Christina Rossetti: A Biographical and Critical Study

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")

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

SPRING'S IMMORTALITY:

AND OTHER POEMS.

Third Edition, completing 1,500 copies. Cloth gilt, yt.6d.

The ATHBNiCUM.— ' Has an unquestionable chann of its own.'

Thk Daily News.— 'Throughout a model of finished workmanship.'

The Bookman.—' His verse leaves on us the impression that we have
been in company with a poet.'

CHARLES WHITEHEAD:

A FORGOTTEN GENIU&

A MONOGRAPH, WITH EXTRACTS FROM WHITEHEADS

WORKS.

Nbw Edition. With an Appreciation of Whitehead by
Mr. Hall Caine. Cloth, jt, 6d,

The Times. — ' It is «trange how men with a true touch of genius in them
can sink out of recognition ; and this occurs very rapidly sometimes, as in
the case of Charles Whitehead. Several works by this writer ought not to be
allowed to drop out of English literature. . . .Mr. Mackenzie Bell's sketdi
may consequently be welcomed for reviving the interest in Whitehead.*

The Glodb. — ' His monograph is carefully, neatly, and sympathetically
built up.'

The Pall Mall Magazine.— ' Mr. Mackenzie Bell's fascinating
monograph.' — Mr, I. ZangwiU,

PICTURES OF TRAVEL:

AND OTHER POEMS.
Second Thousand. Cloth, gilt top, yt. td.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of this work,
and has, through ner Secretairy, Sir Arthur Bigge, conveyed her
thanks to the Author.

The Publishers' Circular.— ' The reljeious poems are unaffectedly
noble in their simple, genuine faith, and will doubtless be widely appre>
ciated. . . . From cover to cover the volume is genuine poetry, and some
pieces mark Mr. Bell's highest achievement in the department of literature
which he cultivates with so much success We heartily commend the
volume to all lovers of poetry.'

'V,

/.

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

REPRODUCTION

FROM THE CHALK DRAWING BY DANTE QABRIEL ROSSETTI. 1866.

Christina Rossetti

A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDY

BY XV43tA-2<A4^ -

MACKENZIE BELL

AUTHOR OF 'spring's IMMORTALITY, AND OTHER POEMS'

' CHARLES WHITEHEAD, A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL MONOGRAPH ' AND

' PICTURES OP TRAVEL, AND OTHER POEMS '

H^/Tlf S/JC PORTRAITS AND FIVE FACSIMILES

Jfourlb (gbitbn

COMPLETING TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED

^ J J '

LONDON

THOMAS BURLEIGH

370 OXFORD STREET
1898

d

first Edition published January 7, 189S
Second Edition published January 26, i8q8
Third Edition published Febmaiy 18, 1898
Fourth Edition published November 19, 1898

Copyright in the United States of America
by l,iTTLE, Brown, & Co., Boston

1898

TO MY FRIEND

WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI

I DEDICATE A BOOK

WHICH

WITHOUT HIS UNCEASING KINDNESS

AND DEEP INTEREST IN IT

COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN

> ,l-?c?_w«

PREFACE

The writing of this book has given me peculiar
pleasure. But far greater than the pleasure of its com-
position has been that of considering the various aspects
of Christina Rossetti's work, and of contemplating her
character as revealed therein. Perhaps my study may
serve to some readers as an introduction to the writings
of Christina Rossetti both as a poet and as a prose writer.
Remembering this I have for the most part relinquished
the functions of a critic and assumed the easier functions
of an exponent.

Whatever are the shortcomings of my book — and
none can feel these shortcomings more than myself — it
may at least claim to be correct as to biographical fact, and
further to be a useful guide to Christina Rossetti's volu-
minous writings, for it contains, in a series of chapters,
a detailed analysis of all her books of poetry and
prose. In these days of hurry and high pressure the
work of a writer, however eminent, who, like Christina
Rossetti, has produced no fewer than fourteen separate
books (irrespective of the privately printed * Verses ' of
1847, and of her * New Poems * and * Maude/ both pub-
lished posthumously, in 1896 and 1897), almost neces-
sarily fails to command attention proportionate to its
merit, if for no other reason than that readers do not

VIU CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

allow themselves time to examine it thoroughly. In the
case of Christina Rossetti there are reasons why such
considerations should have especial weight. If, therefore,
my volume be the means of increasing the knowledge of
those whose acquaintance with her work is now imperfect,
or of drawing the attention of readers for the first time to
her depth of thought (the fruit of a rare experience), and
to her beauty of expression (the fruit of a rare spiritual
strength), one of its chief purposes will be gained.

My task could hardly have been accomplished with-
out the unwearied sympathetic co-operation and un-
varying kindness of my friend, Mr. William Michael
Rossetti, Christina Rossetti's literary executor ; and I
take this the earliest opportunity of expressing my
deep and abiding sense of gratitude to him. I have
also to thank him warmly for having thrice read my
study through with that care which he gives to every-
thing. I have availed myself freely of his written
replies to my numerous inquiries as to many points
in his sister's life, or concerning her opinions, about
which I sought enlightenment from his fuller knowledge.
Thus many autobiographical allusions, especially in
* Time Flies ' and * The Face of the Deep,' have been
made clear. Very often, to insure greater accuracy, I
have quoted his actual words.

At his suggestion I have, whenever occasion arose
for mentioning the poet-painter, usually referred to
Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Dante Gabriel.

The biographical material has generally been used
in order of date, though sometimes, when such a course
seems more desirable, it has been arranged rather as
to subject. Christina Rossetti rarely dated her letters
fully. Indeed it is often by internal evidence alone that

PREFACE IX

the date can be inferred. Fortunately it has appeared
unnecessary to follow the chronological order absolutely,
though whenever such an order seemed to conduce to
clearness, or to serve any other good purpose, it has
been adopted when possible. Some of the letters
included may be deemed by some readers too slight for
publication ; my endeavour has been however not to
exclude an)^hing slight if it seems to possess personal
or other interest or to have felicity of phrase. Her
punctuation has been carefully preserved.

I am indebted to Mr. Frederic Shields for much
assistance, and I am under obligations to the late
William Morris, Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton,
Mr. HoLMAN Hunt, the Bishop of Durham, Mr.
Arthur Hughes, Mr. John R. Clayton, Dr.
Charles J. Hare, the Rev. Dr. Grosart, Messrs.
Macmillan, Messrs. James Parker & Co., the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Mrs. George
Hake, Dr. Richard Garnett, Mr. William Sharp,
the Rev. J. J. Glendinning Nash, the Rev. Alfred
Gurnev, Mr. Thomas Webster, Mr. John H. Ingram,
Mr. Garrett Horder, Mr. Fairfax Murray, Mr.
and Mrs. Patchett Martin, Mr. Sydney Morse,
Mrs. Wright, and others, to all of whom I tender
ray heartiest thanks. I am grateful also to Mr. JOHN
P. Anderson of the British Museum for the exhaustive
bibliography, appended to my volume, to which I
have added some items.

MACKENZIE BELL.
London, January 1898.

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

BIOGRAPHICAL
(Mainly 1830-1853)

The Rossetti family and environment — Christina's godmothers, Prin-
cess Christina Bonaparte (Lady Dudley Stuart), and Miss Georgina
Macgr^or — Poem by Gabriele Rossetti on his daughters — Child-
hood — Italian refugees — Holmer Green-^Oil on troubled waters
— Religious Training — Education — Early characteristics and
reading — Early verses — Christina joins drawing-class conducted
by Ford Madox Brown — Early portraits — Sits for her brother's
• Girlhood of Mary Virgin ' — Sits for * Ecce Ancilla Domini * —
Mr. John R. Clayton — Sits to Mr. Holman Hunt for his * Light
of the World ' — Delicate health — * Maude,' a story — Dr. Hare —
Affection for her grandfather — Christ Church, Albany Street —
50 Charlotte Street — Family circumstances — Frome Selwood —
Dr. Crellin — Sits to Ford Madox Brown — Sir William Jenner —
First offer of marriage I

CHAPTER II
BIOGRAPHICAL — continued

(Mainly 1854-1876)

Returns to London— Death of Gabriele Rossetti — Straitened circum-
stances — Miscellaneous writings — Literary income up to 1890 —
Hastings — Newcastle-onTyne — Brookbank, Shottermill, Hasle-
mere — Cheltenham — Second offer of marriage — Foreign travel —
Switzerland — Italy — Dr. Gordon Hake — Rev. Dr. Littledale —
Chalk drawing by Dante Gabriel, 1866 — Penkill Castle, Ayrshire
— Removal to 56 Euston Square, now 5 Endsleigh Gardens — Seri-
ous illness — Meads, Eastbourne — Devotion to her family — Her
Sister's * Shadow of Dante * — Her own papers on Dante — Dante's
Lucifer and Milton's Satan contrasted — Her sister's influence
upon her in religious matters — Her sister and Mr. John Ruskin • 32

Xn CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER III

BIOGRAPHICAL — Continued

(Mainly 1874-1886)

PACE

Kelmscott Manor House — Removal to 30 Torrington Square — Cheyne
Walk — Bognor — Hunter's Forestall — Death of her sister Maria —
Letters to her brothers — Walton-on-the-Naze — Mr. Frederic
Shields — Discusses religious problems — Her opinion of Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, Adelaide Procter, and Anne Radcliffe —
Autobiographical allusions *Time Flies' — Memorial window to
Dante Gabriel at Birchington, designed by Mr. Shields, and
correspondence with Mr. Shields about it — Her suggestions for
decoration of chapel at Eaton Hall — Interest in social questions
— Correspondence with Mr. Shields respecting her mother's
last illness and death — Mr. Watts^Dunton on her mother's
influence on Christina, and Christina's influence on her elder
brother 64

CHAPTER IV

BIOGRAPHICAL — Continued

(Mainly 1886-1893)

Letters to Mrs. W. M. Rossetti — Correspondence with the Rev.
Alfred Gurney — Her humour in letters — Letters to Mr. Shields and
to Mr. W. M. Rossetti— Poem on the death of the Duke of Clarence
— Article on Tudor I iouse in * Literary Opinion' . . .117

CHAPTER V

BIOGRAPHICAL — Continued

(Mainly 1893- 1 894)

Her appearance — Wishes to remove to neighbourhood of R^ent's
Park — Reminiscences of London — Mr. Watts- Dunton's and Mr.
W. M. Rossetti's remarks respecting her attitude towards animals
— Description of 30 Torrington Square — Habits of work — Her
handwriting — Her books — Her drawing-room — The garden of
Torrington Square — Mr. Shields as artist — His Good Shepherd —
Mrs. Garnctt, Miss Lisa Wilson — Her goddaughter, Miss Ursula
Hake — Her opinion as to cremation — Her political proclivities —
Her consciousness of evils in our social sj-stem — Her practical
habits — Her appreciation of poctr>' — Her reading of poetry — Her

CONTENTS Xlll

I'AUB

admiration of Augusta Webster's drama * The Sentence,' and
Jean Ingelow — Personal habits — Her voice — Her household —
Prayers — Her attitude towards music — Christ Church, Wobum
Square — Increasing illness — Relinquishes attendance at church —
Dr. Stewart—Dr. Abbot Anderson — Closing days — Her asp)ect
after death— Spiritual disquietude towards the end — ^Widespread
regret occasioned by her death — Letter from the Bishop of Durham
to Mr. W. M. Rossetti — Her funeral — Preliminary ^rvice, Christ
Church, Wobum Square — Highgate Cemetery— Mr. Theodore
Watts-Dunton*s * Two Christmastides ' — Memorial service . 13

CHAPTER VI
GENERAL POEMS

'Verses' 1847 — Italian Poems — * Death's Chill Between* and
•Heart's Chill Between' ('Athenaeum' 1848)-.* The Germ'—

• Goblin Market and other Poems * — * The Prince's Progress and
other Poems' — • A Pageant and other Poems* — *New Poems,'
edited by Mr. William Michael Rossetti, 1896, (containing * A
Triad,' * Cousin Kate,' and * Sister Maude ' reprinted from * Goblin
Market and other Poems ') — Italian Poems .... 191

CHAPTER VII
DEVOTIONAL POEMS

From • Annus Domini — * Called to be Saints ' — * Time Flies ' —

• The Face of the Deep ' — * Goblin. Market and other Poems ' —

• The Prince's Progress and other Poems ' — * A Pageant and other
Poems ' — • Verses ' ( 1893) — * ^cw Poems ' — List of poems, mainly
devotional, included neither in her general * Poems,' nor in her
religious * Verses' (1893) 240

CHAPTER VIII
children's books and PROSE STORIES

* Sing-Song * — Speaking Likenesses — * Commonplace and other

Stories' — * Maude ' 261

CHAPTER IX
DEVOTIONAL PROSE

* Annus Domini ' — * Seek and Find ' — * Called to be Siiints ' — • Letter

and Spirit '— « Time Flies '— • The Face of the Deep '. . . 285

XIV CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER X

CRITICAL SURVEY

rACE

Remarks respecting various aspects of Christina Rossetti*s work, and

reasons why it is likely to retain its value . . . . -319

Bibliography 339

List of Portraits 351

Index 355

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES
Christina Rossetti Frontispiece

From ike Chalk Drawings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti ^ x866.
In the possession of Mr. W, M. Rossetti.

Head of Christina Rossetti To face p, 15

Pencil drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1848. In t/te
Possession of Mr. Sydney Morse,

Portrait of Christina Rossetti .... ,, 17

From the oil painting by fames Collinson, 1849, in the
Possession of Mr. IV, M. Rossetti and reproduced here /or
the first time.

Christina Rossetti ,, 27

Frotn the pencil drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti^ October
1853. Now in the possession of Mr, IV. M. Rossetti.
Reproduced here for the first time,

Christina Rossetti and her Mother . . „ 135

From, a photograph by * Levris Carrol V (Rev. Charles Lut-
wii^e Dodgson) taken in the garden of Tudor House^ i6
Cheyne IValk^ Chelsea^ toivards 1863. In the possession 0/
Mr, W, M, Rossetti.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

i'AGE

Facsimile of Poem by Gabriele Rossetti Addressed to his
Daughters, Maria and Christina 7

♦

Portrait of Christina Rossetti 8

Reproduced direct from the water-cnlour by F Hippo Tis truce i, 1838, in the
possession qfMr. IV. M, Rossetti,

XIV CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER X

CRITICAL SUKVEV

Remarks "■T*«^"e t*i><xis aspects of QunliMi RosMtd's work, and
reuoDS wfa; it is likely to retain its value .....

List of PoaTBAir-.

Indb.\ . .

XVI CHRISTINA kOSSETTI

FACB

Facsimile of a Corebcted Proof of the Two Sonnets
* Faint, yet Purscin*;,' with Author's Corrections . 132

Bfptrmiut^m 0/Meurt, MmcmUimm &* C>. mmd Mr. A. pMtcJUtt Mmrthu

Facsimile of the MS. of the Song «\Vhen I am Dead,
MY Dearest' i47

WW c/Mtssrt, MmetmilimM ^ (>.

Facsimile of the TiTLE-i'AiiE of * Verses,' 1847 . . . 192

Facsimile of p. x of a Copy of * Annus Domini* showing
AN Inserted Stanza in Manuscript . .242

By /trmiuwm m/MtMtrt, Jumts Parker ^ C«.

Facsimile of a Manuscript Page of one of Christina

ROSSETTI'S DkVOTIONAL WoRKS 296

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER I

BIOGRAPHICAL

(Mainly 1 830-1 853)

The Rossetti family and environment — Christina's godmothers, Princess
Christina Bonaparte (Lady Dudley Stuart), and Miss Georgina
Macgregor — Poem by Gabriele Rossetti on his daughters — Childhood
— Italian refugees — Holmer Green — Oil on troubled waters — Religious
Training — Education — Early characteristics and reading — Early verses
— Christina joins drawing-class conducted by Ford Madox Brown —
Early portraits — Sits for her brother's * Girlhood of Mary Virgin ' —
Sits for * Ecce Andlla Domini ' — Mr. John R. Clayton — Sits to
Mr. Holman Hunt for his * Light of the World '—Delicate health—
* Maude,' a story — Dr. Hare — Affection for her grand&ther — Christ
Church, Albany Street — 50 Charlotte Street — Family circumstances
— Frome Selwood — Dr. Crellin — Sits to Ford Madox Brown — Sir
William Jenner — First offer of marriage.

Never does a writer feel so keenly how weak are
words — at the best inadequate makeshifts for expressing
conceptions or for conveying impressions — as when he
strives to show to others in some measure the sweetness
and irresistible fascination of such a personality as that
of Christina Rossetti — a personality whose unique charm
is well-nigh untranslatable into words. Time, skill in
word-painting, and, above all, much preparatory thought
are needed before any success, however small, can be

B

.- I

2 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

attained in such an endeavour. And the difficulty is
no less great when I turn to another aspect of my
present undertaking.

One evening when I was in the company of Christina
Rossetti's intimate friend, Mr. Frederic Shields, the
painter, the talk turned on the relative merits of two
other poets and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and I ventured
to point out certain respects in which these poets
excelled the last named. At first my companion
demurred entirely to the opinions I put forward, and
maintained that Dante Gabriel Rossetti surpassed those
with whom he was being compared in all the particulars
I had mentioned. Suddenly, however, he turned to me
and exclaimed : *You may be right — it is so hard to
criticise when one loves.'

* It is so hard to criticise when one loves ! ' Ah,
thought I, that expresses exactly my chief feeling as I
attempt a critical study of Christina Rossetti's work.
It is always hard to criticise adequately the work ot
any poet for whom we have personally a feeling akin to
affection. And, if this is true as a general rule, it is
particularly true in relation to Christina Rossetti, whom
to know at all personally was almost to love.

Her life was outwardly uneventful : it is, however,
possible to put too much emphasis on this. Very rarely
has a life so lacking in incident as hers been passed
amid such noteworthy surroundings, and in such con-
stant touch with eminent persons. When we think
of the families who, as families, have enriched English
literature during the present century, we probably think
first of the Tennysons. The late Laureate, who, by his
commanding genius, has conquered and dominated the
English-speaking people in a way which has been

^fmttmrmrmmmmmr^mm^m^^mm'ammmm

THE ROSSETTI FAMILY 3

equalled by no other writer of the century, with the
possible exception of Sir Walter Scott, is largely
responsible for this. It seldom happens that a family
which has produced so illustrious a poet as the late
Laureate should include among its members such poets
as Mr. Frederick Tennyson and the late Charles Tenny-
son-Turner, both of whom are admirable in their degree ;
while Mr. Frederick Tennyson shares with Landor the
almost unparalleled distinction of having produced a
volume of fine poems at the venerable age of eighty-eight.
In the case of the Brontes also we see conspicuous gifts ;
we see the genius of Charlotte Bronte, and the more
limited genius of her sister Emily. Nevertheless, much
might be said in favour of the assertion that the Rossetti
family are in some respects well-nigh unexampled.
Sufficient time has now elapsed since the death of
Dante Gabriel to enable us to realise in a large measure
the legacy of memorable work which he has left to the
world both as a poet and as a painter ; Maria Francesca
showed in * The Shadow of Dante,* and elsewhere, rare
powers ; William Michael, by a life of scholarly labour,
has won for himself a notable place among contemporary
critics ; while the present volume is designed to exhibit
the many excellences of Christina as a writer in poetry
and in prose, as well as to give a survey of her life.

Unquestionably, the natural endowments of Chris-
tina Rossetti were very great, but her powers were
largely developed by the remarkable training she
received, and her character largely influenced by her
circumstances. Her father, we are told by his younger
son, * always spoke Italian in the family, never English ;
and the children from the earliest years, as well as his
wife, answered him in Italian.'

B 2

X

4 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Though some prominent critics have held a con-
trary opinion, I clearly trace in her writings the effect
of her descent and youthful environment It has
enriched her vocabulary and increased that underlying^
sensuousness which is so marked a characteristic of all
her poetical achievement. She was an exquisite lyrist,
but she was not dramatic in the sense that some great
lyrists — for example, such as Bums (who, though he
lived in peaceful domestic times, has given us * Scots
wha hae,' one of the supreme war-songs of the world)
— were dramatic. Much of her finest work both in verse
and prose is the veiled expression of her own individu-
ality. V She was deeply religious, and carried her con-
victions into every detail of life, and her clearly-defined
religious opinions gave a special interest to her religious
verse. Hers was emphatically a character that it was
needful to know personally in order to understand : I
doubt if anyone who had not the privilege of knowing
her can understand in its fulness, in all its sweetness, in
its profundity, and in its fascination, her personality,
and the effect of that personality both on her poems and
on her prose. She conformed her life to a high standard
of duty and conduct, and in the serene atmosphere where
her soul dwelt she was unsullied by the petty mean-
nesses, and, in her later years at least, almost incapable
of being ruffled by the petty worries of existence. But
she was intensely human and full of sturdy common
sense. Her habitual serenity had not come to her
naturally; it had been acquired by constant, though
perhaps partly unconscious effort. And this was one
reason why the study of her personality became so
interesting.

Christina Georgina Rossetti, the younger daughter

GABRIELE ROSSETTI 5

and youngest child of Gabriele and Frances Mary
Lavinia Rossetti, was bom on December 5, 1830, at
38 Charlotte Street, Portland Place, London, where her
parents then resided, their other children being Maria
Francesca, born in 1827; Gabriel Charles Dante, born
in 1828 ; and William Michael, born in 1829.

Gabriele Rossetti was eminent in more than one
respect. Besides winning repute as a poet, and as a
student of Dante, he was an ardent reformer, and, owing
to his support of Liberal ideas, he became, when still
young, obnoxious to the then Government of Naples,
where at the time he lived. He fled from the city under
romantic circumstances. Eventually he settled in
London, where he became a leading teacher of Italian,
and also Professor of Italian at King's College. In
1826 he married Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, sister
of that Dr. Polidori so well known as physician to Lord
Byron.

Christina Rossetti manifested and evidently felt the
deepest love and reverence for both her parents, but the
ties of affection which bound her to her mother were
peculiar and passionately strong. All of Christina's
books, except two, were dedicated to her mother. Mrs.
Rossetti was more than usually gifted in telling stories
to her children, and this is commemorated in Christina's
dedication of * Speaking Likenesses.'

To My
DEAREST MOTHER,

in grateful remembrance of the
Stories

with which she used to entertain her

children.

^'

6 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Mrs. Rossetti survived until April 1886, and during
fifty-six years Christina was rarely absent from her.

Christina, on her father's side, was wholly of Italian
extraction, but her mother was English on the maternal
side. Her father, educated as a Roman Catholic,
did not in England * openly abjure * that creed* Never-
theless, according to his son William, * in religion
he was mainly a freethinker, but tending in his later
years towards an undogmatic form of Christianity.'
His attitude towards Christianity in the later years
of his life is shown by the interesting and touching
volume of Italian religious poems, called VArpa Evan-
gelica ( * The Evangelic Harp ' ), which he published
in 1852, two years before his death. His wife was a
devout adherent of the Church of England, and
brought up all her four children as Protestants. Her
j'-ounger daughter's godmothers were Lady Dudley Stuart
and Miss Georgina Macgregor. Lady Dudley Stuart
was one of the Bonaparte family, several members of
which family, particularly Prince Pierre Bonaparte, and
occasionally even Prince Louis Napoleon, afterwards
Napoleon III., were visitors in the Rossetti household.
Mr. W. M. Rossetti has given me some interesting
information about Lady Dudley Stuart :

* My knowledge of Lady Dudley Stuart is not minute,
but the following is more or less correct. She was a
daughter of one of the brothers of the great Napoleon —
Lucian — and must originally have been called Princess
Christina Bonaparte. She married a Swedish Count,
Arvid de Poss^, and subsequently Lord Dudley Stuart.
My father knew her well, and, I think, liked her : she, I
suppose, ofiFered to be godmother to the infant born on
December 5, 1830, and he assented. She died in 1847.'

Miss Georgina Macgregor was the daughter of Sir

POEM BY GABRIEJ.E ROSSETTI 7

Patrick Macgregor, to whose children Mrs. Rossetti had
been governess until the latter's marriage. The names
of Christina and Georgina were given to the child in
compliment, respectively, to her first and second god-
mother.

The touching little poem by Gabriele Rossetti,
reproduced below in facsimile with a line-by-line
translation from the Italian by his younger son, was
sent to me by the latter with the following remarks :

* The enclosed verses by my Father about Maria and
Christina . . . are very pretty in their simple way,
especially in sound. Their date would, I suppose, be
towards 1834, when C[hristina] was three years of age.

Gri^tHtnyeyyffiit^^aJ Christina and Maria,

'f^ty' c4^C^^a^}urUJ My dear daughters,

«^ j^e^ji/ v/iTfiy ^^ ^'^^^ violets

i^l^t^Ttd^e^a^^oMcr^ Opened at dawn.

t/pn. nr^t^iVU^rif^ '^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ nurtured

^clI/ ^ai^^eJnirVeMiy By the eariiest breezes ;

tfiTkt l^r/af€^ o^^cl<J They are lovely turtle-doves

O^ Thetc J^a^moT^. In the nest of Love.'

About 1836 the family removed to 50 Charlotte
Street There, partly owing to the father's conspicuous
ability, partly to his growing celebrity as a leader of
the movement in favour of Italian freedom, his house
became a meeting-place of Italians, some of them exiles
like himself. Christina and her surviving brother
have told me something of their father's kindness to
his compatriots even when his own means were of the

8

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

narrowest. Very naturally these compatriots had a
great fascination for the children. Gabriele Rossetti
had a high estimate of the talents of one of them named
Filippo Pistrucci, a painter and teacher of Italian, and
also entertained a cordial liking for the man himself.
Pistrucci was often in money straits, the result of family
conditions. Gabriele Rossetti, in some degree because
of his sympathy for Pistrucci on this account, in some
degree because of his appreciation of his powers, set him
to paint portraits of all his children. Maria he painted
twice ; Dante Gabriel twice ; William once ; and Christina
twice. The portrait of Christina, a water-colour on
paper, was executed when she was about seven years

old. It is reproduced here, and
represents a thoughtful face — a
face even then betokening the
qualities which made her what she
ultimately became. The loftiness
of the brow is perhaps greater
than was apparent in later life,
and the mouth and the lips are
perhaps set with greater deter-
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI mination. The portrait as a whole

^'^ur<oi^'r'%^'^hUip^ ^"'^y justifies the opinion of most
STS:i/J^ii'' of her early friends that in youth

Christina was beautiful. William
Bell Scott, probably about i860, did an etching from
this water-colour, and produced, in her younger brother's
judgment, a satisfactory result, though he thinks that
the upper lip is too long. A son of Filippo Pistrucci
succeeded Gabriele Rossetti as Professor of Italian at
King's College, London.

Prominent among the Italian refugees who used to

>WMH»«x^N0«M*«P

BENEDETTO SANGIOVANNI HOLMER GREEN 9

frequent Gabriele Rossetti's house almost every evening
was a * tall gaunt man ' named Benedetto Sangiovanni, a
capable modeller in clay. He was a special source of
interest to the children, as it had been reported of him,
whether rightly or wrongly it is impossible now to say,
that he had stabbed some one in Calabria. He had
lived in Naples under the protection of Murat, and
after the latter's downfall had come to England. He
designed a little oiled clay letter-weight which stood
above the clock in Christina Rossetti's dining-room
and this relic she retained till her death.

Among the great pleasures of Christina's early
childhood were her visits to the cottage of her grand-
father, Gaetano Polidori, at Holmer Green, near Little
Missenden in Buckinghamshire. This cottage was
about thirty miles from London, and in those days
could only be reached by a stage coach journey of six
hours* duration. The novelty of this journey to the
town-bred and town-immured little girl may be
imagined, more especially as surrounding the cottage
was a garden, small in actual extent, but large in her
idea. To her this garden was a revelation of the beauty
of nature, and she spoke to me frequently respecting
the exquisite delight she had derived from her rambles
in it — a delight which came to an end before she was
nine years old.

In Chapter IX. I shall deal with her volume, * Time
Flies : a Reading Diary, being short Devotional Essays
for every day in the year.* A notable example of her
later prose work (it was first published when she was
in her fifty-fifth year) this book contains many personal
allusions, though there are rarely any definite indications
as to place or as to time. I am able, nevertheless, to

lO CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

furnish particulars concerning many of these allu-
sions.

The first reference to Holmer Green is under date
March 4, where she tells, in a few simple words, of her
first knowledge of death :

* So in these grounds, perhaps in the orchard, I lighted
upon a dead mouse. The dead mouse moved my
sympathy ; I took him up, buried him comfortably in a
mossy bed, and bore the spot in mind.

* It may have been a day or two afterwards that I
returned, removed the moss coverlet, and looked ... a
black insect emerged. I fled in horror, and for long
years ensuing I never mentioned this ghastly adventure
to anyone.'

She speaks (July 6) about two frogs she had seen
in the same garden. One of the frogs had startled her
by jumping unexpectedly, while she, all unwittingly,
had startled the other frog. On the little incident she
remarks :

* Is it quite certain that no day will ever come, when
even the smallest, weakest, most grotesque, wronged
creature will not in some fashion rise up in the
Judgment with us to condemn us, and so frighten us
effectually once for all } '

On July 17 and 18 we read how she and another
* little girl ' (somewhat older in years) watched a wild
strawberry grow on a hedge-row bank, visiting it daily
to see how it throve. Not the least of her childhood's
disappointments was that which befel her when she dis-
covered that a snail had made it 'good for nothing.'
With the wisdom of maturity she deduces the moral
that even snails have their rights, while * man, alas ! finds
it convenient here to snap off a right and there to chip
away a due.' * The little girl,' somewhat older in years,

HOLMER GREEN I I

was her sister Maria, and the hedge-row bank was at
Holmer Green.

But in some respects the most interesting remi-
niscence of her days of childhood occurs under date
June 19, where she says :

* I know of a little girl who not far from half a
century ago, having heard that oil calmed troubled
waters, suggested to her mother its adoption for such a
purpose in case of a sea storm.

* Her suggestion fell flat, as from her it deserved to
fall. Yet nowadays, here is science working out the
babyish hint of ignorance.'

* The little girl ' was herself.

Mr. William Sharp, in an admirable essay contributed
to * The Atlantic Monthly ' for June 1895, entitled ' Some
Reminiscences of Christina Rossetti * — an essay full of
sympathetic discrimination — has narrated how she told
him once of her first visit to the Zoological Gardens,
made in the company of her brother Gabriel. The
two children amused themselves in a manner worth
recording. Christina felt that the captive birds should
be celebrated by 'plaintive verses,* while her brother
entertained her by laughable biographies of them.
Mr. Sharp tells further of a singular dream which
Christina Rossetti had in early life. She thought she
was * in Regent's Park at dawn,' while, just as the sun
rose, she seemed to see * a wave of yellow light sweep
from the trees.' It * was a multitude of canaries, thou-
sands of them,' all the canaries in London. They had
met, and were now going back to captivity. Her brother
Gabriel, to whom she spoke of her vision, thought to
make a picture of it, but never did so.

Mr. W. M. Rossetti, in his * Dante Gabriel Rossetti :

12 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

his Family Letters ; with a Memoir/ gives some dis-
tinctive particulars respecting the children's amusements
in the Rossetti household. Besides the inevitable rocking-
horse, and the almost equally inevitable 'blind-man's
buff* and * puss-in-the-comer/ the children early identi-
fied themselves * in a sort of way with the four suits of
cards,* clubs being appropriated to Maria, hearts to
Dante Gabriel, diamonds to Christina, and spades to
William. But they were trained to 'dislike . . • gam-
bling,* and never throughout life * played for money.'

Christina was deeply affectionate, and had, besides,
much fondness for animals, a trait perhaps first
exemplified in the lines *On the Death of a Cat:
a friend of mine aged ten years and a half,* written
when she was sixteen.* The lines, though creditable
enough when the author's age is remembered, are
without much poetical merit Some of them may
be quoted here, however, as showing that, child of
genius as she was, Christina Rossetti was not unduly
precocious, or uninfluenced by her practical common-
place surroundings. In the second stanza is an exceed-
ingly neat allusion to the proverb that a cat has nine

lives :

Come, ye Muses, one and all,
Come obedient to my call ;
Come and mourn with tuneful breath
Each one for a separate death ;
And, while you in numbers sigh,
I will sing her elegy.

Christina's mother (originally belonging to the
Evangelical School, though at a later period she adopted
somewhat High Church opinions) taught all her four

• This poem appeared in the privately printed volume of 1847 shortly
to be mentioned.

«l

^ ^iW - m ■ i < Lt

EDUCATION 1 3

children the Church Catechism, besides imparting to
them Biblical knowledge ; and Christina soon showed
deep religious feeling and aspiration.

She was educated at home, and, as her younger
brother forcibly said to me, 'owed everything in the
way of early substantial instruction to our mother.*
One result of never going to school was constant
association with her sister and brothers. As a child her
temper was quick, and it is strong evidence of her
force of will that in later life scarcely any trace of this
quickness of temper seemed to remain.

Christina told Mr. Sharp that she was the ill-
tempered one of the family ; and * my dear sister used
to say that she had the good sense, William the good
nature, Gabriel the good heart, and I the bad temper of
our much-loved father and mother.'

Indeed, it is no more than the fact that Christina had
naturally an irritable strain in her disposition — a juster
way of putting it, perhaps, than to say that she was ill-
tempered in the ordinary sense of the term. The irri-
table strain may partly have been the result of physical
causes ; in later life it was altogether conquered, and this
conquest strengthened her character, as moral conquests
ever do strengthen the character.

Like many children possessing incipient genius, she
was desultory in her habits of study. But this disposi-
tion in her case (as in the case of so many others
similarly endowed) was compensated for by much wide
general reading.

About the age of nine she appreciated Hone's
* Every Day Book.' In this compilation she first saw
the name of Keats, and read extracts from * The Eve of
St. Agnes ' which naturally impressed her. In common

14 CHiOSnXA JL'DSSETTI

widi her brodiers aad sister she liked also * John
Gilpin,' ' Caaaheanra/ and ' ChcTv Chase,' nor were
• RobinsoQ Cmsoe * and ' The Arabean Nights ' neglected.
Pope's ' Iliad ' was sogo placed in her hands ; so were
books descriptiTe d Irish life, for she read both Carle-
ton s ' Traits and Stc-ries of the Irish Peasantr\*/ and
the tales of Maria Edgewcrth.

She was eaHy accuainted with Shakespeare and Sir
Walter Scott; aboat 1S44 she read Anne RadclifTe,
perhaps chiefly that writers ' M\^steries of Udolpho,' and
about 1S47 Maturin's stories. Nevertheless, her brother
informs me that, ' as compared with the rest of the
familv, she read verv- little, and onlv what hit her
fancw , , . From o to 14 one of her most constant com-
pani<xis was Metastasio. the operatic poeL My sister
can ha\*e read ver>- little of Bmris in childhood. I
question whether she rritr knew much of him. Though
from infanc>- speaking Italian almost as well as English,
she did not study Dante till about 1S4S.'

Mr \V. M. Rossetti once showed me an early sonnet
of his sister's on Lady MontTe\"\>r in Maturin's novel
*The Wild Irish Boy/ remarking: 'When Gabriel,
Christina, and I were young we used to read Maturin's
no\-cls o\*er and o\*er again, and they took great hold of
v>ur imaginations. ' * He has since published the sonnet
in her posthumous * New Focms ' * which he edited in
1896^ adding a valuable series of notes that elucidate
many points in rcg;ird to her \\\>rk.

In 1S42 occurred the well-remembered w^u- with
China, and one of Mr William Rossetti s schoolmasters

* StiKlenis of Sir WaUci S^n^i xkill kwIUv: ihjtt, ir a j.x:bM>hcd letter,
he describes Malurin as * a nun v>f ^mi, Ihji c\\>M\iiic genius.'

* This cv>UeclivMi vvl" >"er>c i> more tully iviciiv\l to in ChajHer VI.

EARLY VERSES I 5

requested him to write a composition on the theme.
Christina, knowing that he was at work, herself produced
a set of verses, pentameter in measure, called * The
Chinaman.' These, however, were not the first verses
she wrote, for they were written later than April 27,
1842, the date of the two stanzas commemorative of
her mother's birthday, which her grandfather printed
on a card. The original MS. of these verses is now in
the British Museum, and the childishness of the hand-
writing betokens their early date. There is a very early
attempt at humour in a couplet quoted in the ' memoir '
of her elder brother.

* Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer ! *
As the soldier remarked whose post lay in the rear.

The late William Bell Scott tells in his autobiography
how he met Christina for the first time in the company
of her father :

* By the window was a high narrow reading-desk, at
which stood writing a slight girl, with a serious regular
profile, dark against the pallid wintry light without
This most interesting to me of the two inmates turned
on my entrance, made the most formal and graceful
curtsey, and resumed her writing, and the old gentleman
signed to a chair for my sitting down.*

The date of William Bell Scott's call was probably
December 1847, or January 1848, when Christina was
just seventeen. In the first-named year her grandfather,
Gaetano Polidori, printed privately her first volume,
entitled * Verses.' Mr. William Rossetti possesses a
copy which is curious and especially interesting because
illustrated in water-colours by Christina herself, the
date of the illustrations being somewhat later, though
not much later, than 1847. He has dealt with these

1 6 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

illustrations in some detail in his notes to * New Poems.*
It may be said, however, that these drawings are in
no sense remarkable except as being Christina's work.
Perhaps the best is that of the line

Lay a Idtten by her side,

in * The Death of a Cat,' a poem already referred to.
Another copy u-as given by Christina, when twenty-four
j'cars of age, to her mother, and some years after her
mother s death it was presented by Christina to Mr. W.
M. Rossctti on his sixt>'- first birthday. It contains a
frontispiece portrait of the author, besides illustrations
of the poems by her brother Gabriel

We ha\'e seen already that Christina Rossetti b^^an
early to paint in water-colours, and at a somewhat later
date we find her one of Ford Madox Brown's pupils
in a drawing-class he conducted at Camden Town on
rather novel principles — a class in which the members
of the Pneraphaclite Brotherhood (to which allusion
shall elsewhere be made) were much interested. Dante
Gabriel averred frequently that had she continued her
artistic efforts she might have reached excellence.

Probably she w*as Dante Gabriel's first model, and
there is a portrait of her by him, executed in 1848,
when she was se\'enteen. It used to hang in the back
parlour at 30 Torrington Square, formerly her sitting-
room. It is described by Mr. W. M. Rossetti as • the
very first finished painting' Dante Gabriel produced.
Probably her brother executed it as a preliminary study
for her portrait in * The Girlhood of Mary Virgin.' It
has many qualities of beauty— chief among which is
the lovely spiritual expression of the eyes, and the
firmness of the mouth, revealing strength as well as

■11 /alnUnt h^ 7,m„ Ctll.

MR. JOHN R. CLAYTON 1 7

sweetness of character. There is also a portrait painted
about 1849 by James Collinson, now remembered mainly
by his association with * The Germ * and the Prae-
raphaelite Brotherhood. It is reproduced here for the
first time. She sat, as stated above, for the Virgin in
Dante Gabriers picture of *The Girlhood of Mary
Virgin.' This, originally exhibited in 1849, is so well
known, and has been so often spoken of and reproduced,
that a detailed reference to it need not be attempted.

About a year afterwards Christina again sat for the
Virgin in her brother's picture called* Ecce Aricilla
Domini,' better known, perhaps, as * The Annunciation.'
This picture, now in the National Gallery of British Art,
given to the nation by Mr. Tate, has been often minutely
dwelt on, and has also been reproduced. So I need only
say that the tender, almost deprecating look mingled
with simplicity, the almost childlike beauty on the
Virgin's face, was, I am informed by more than one
early friend of Christina Rossetti, very characteristic of
her in girlhood and in opening womanhood.

To Mr. John R. Clayton, the artist, who knew her
well about 1849-5 1, 1 am indebted for an anecdote which
will be new to my readers. At this period he was on
very intimate terms with Dante Gabriel, and privileged
to enter the latter's studio in Newman Street at any
time. Vi^hen he first saw ' Ecce Ancilla Domini ' there
the head of Christina alone appeared on the canvas.

After the picture had nearly reached completion,
Mr. Clayton found his friend * busily engaged in painting,
from the " snap-dragon " effects of ignited spirits of wine
in a saucer, the flames under the feet of the angel
Gabriel.* The painter explained to Mr. Clayton his
dilemma from the impossibility of obtaining at that

C

1 8 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

time of the year (for it was the month of March) a real
lily from which to paint the flower symbolically repre-
sented in the hand of the angel. Mr. Clayton having
no study of his own, such as his friend sought to borrow
of him, suggested that something to serve his friend's
purpose might be obtainable at Foster's artificial flower
shop, then in Wigmore Street His friend immediately
went there, bought an artificial lily for two shillings,
and used it as a substitute for a real one.

Mr. Clayton differs from the early friends, to whom
allusion has been recently made, as he does not regard
the portrait of Christina in ' Ecce Ancilla Domini ' as a
portrait seriously intended or true to fact. He considers
it merely as a delineation of the mystery of expression
in the face. He has pointed out to me, as an instance
of the painter's * indifference to scholastic antiquarian-
ism,' that the angel in the picture is represented as
' indicating Benediction with the left ! instead of the
right hand.'

Concerning Christina's personal appearance, Mr.
Watts-Dunton wrote in ' The Athenaeum ' (No. 3,506,
January S, 1895):

' In most things, Christina Rossetti seemed to stand
midway between Gabriel and the other two members
of her family, and it was the same in physical matters.
She had Gabriel's eyes, in which hazel and blue-gfrey
were marvellously blent, one hue shifting into the other,
answering to the movements of the thoughts — ^^:&
like the mother's. And her brown hair, though less
warm in colour than his during his boyhood, was still like
it When a young girl, at the time that she sat for the
Virgin in the picture now in the National Gallery, she
was, as both her mother and Gabriel have told me,
really lovely, with an extraordinary expression of pen-
sive sweetness. She used to have in the little back

APPEARANCE IN GIRLHOOD 1 9

parlour a portrait of herself at eighteen by Gabriel,
which gives all these qualities.'

One or two of her still earlier friends whom I have
met have agreed in describing her as beautiful in youth
— beautiful, that is, with a * pensive ' beauty. Admirers
•of Mr. Ruskin will remember his warm praise of * Ecce
Ancilla Domini * in * The Three Colours of Prae-
raphaelitism.'

What follows is part of a conversation about Christina
Rossetti with which Mr. Holman Hunt honoured me :

* When I was painting " The Light of the World," '
•said Mr. Holman Hunt, * Christina, at my request, came
"* to me with her mother to my little studio in Chelsea,

* and sat for me for the face. I had several other sitters
" for it, and eventually I modelled the head in clay. I

• can hardly remember now whether Christina came to
** me early, or just before the cast was made.'

In the summer of 1 848 Christina visited Brighton,
and while there wrote several bouts rimh sonnets, to be
mentioned hereafter. She was incited to this work by
the example of her brothers, both of whom at that time
were addicted to this metrical exercise.

We learn from a touching note by Mr. William
Rossetti on * Looking Forward,' a poem dated June 8,
1849, that the MS. is in his mother's handwriting, and
he adds that when Christina was seventeen or eighteen
years old her health was so uncertain as to lead none
of her family to suppose she would attain an average
length of life. Christina placed her * Looking Forward/
though without title, as the work of the heroine in her
prose story ' Maude.' *

' Some extracts from * Maude ' are given in Chapter VIII. beginning at
p. 281. This story has been published with a preface by Mr. W. M. Rossetti.

c 2

20 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

It is generally unwise to endeavour to identify too
closely the habits of an author with the incidents described
in his or her work, when that work is presumably of
fiction. But in the portrayal of the heroine in * Maude *
allusions occur that one cannot doubt are personal.
Sometimes, for example, Christina makes Maude go
to * St. Andrew's Church ' — probably intended for St.
Andrew's, Wells Street, W. — because of the finer music
there than at her * parish church.'

Both her brothers, but especially Dante Gabriel, were
' adorers ' of their sister (to quote Mr. Clayton's phrase
in conversation with me), and Mr. Clayton is convinced
that it was from ' the fascinating mystery and soft melan-
choly of his sister's eyes,' that Dante Gabriel gained that
impulse towards the sad female face so noticeable in the
pictorial work of his whole career.

It must not be supposed, however, that Christina's
early life was without brightness. Even as a child she
had humour, and, although it is true that gifted natures
endowed with a sense of humour are often melancholy,.
in reality her youthful years were full of quiet joy of
various kinds.

Dr. Charles J. Hare first attended her professionally
in November 1845, and she remained 'more or less
constantly ' under his care until 1850. He permits me
to quote part of the first memorandum he made
concerning her :

* Fully the middle stature ; appears older than she
really is — 15 ; hair brown ; complexion is brunette ; but
she is now pale (anaemic). Conformation good.'

From subsequent memoranda by the same gentleman
the two following brief extracts are taken :

DR. CHARLES J. HARE 21

* She had been under the care of several very distin-
guished physicians before I saw her — Drs. Locock and
Watson, and, I think, Dr. Latham. ... In 1848 she had
a sharpish attack of bronchitis.'

When he was good enough to talk to me on the
subject, Dr. Hare said that what chiefly impressed him
was Christina's deep love for her mother — a feeling shown
by every word and look. In the whole course of his
life he had never known an instance of affection more
absorbing in itself or more touchingly evinced. Evidently
in these early days she thought with especial favour of
the lines 'Looking Forward,' for among Dr. Hare's
most cherished possessions is a copy of them in her own
handwriting which she gave to him at the time. In
Dr. Hare's opinion she was sweet and interesting,
but not strictly beautiful.

As to Christina Rossetti's grandfather, Gaetano
Polidori, Dr. Hare writes :

* At eighty-four, when I first attended to him profes-
sionally, he was a very hale, hearty, fine-looking old man,
full of enthusiasm, and not the least so as regards his
estimate of the talents and character of his grandchild
Christina.'

Christina reciprocated the affection of Gaetano
Polidori, for Mr. W. M. Rossetti writes thus in his notes
to * New Poems ' :

*To her grandfather especially Christina was most
warmly attached.'

Here is Dr. Hare's description of Mrs. Rossetti at
the time of which we are now speaking :

* A face full of beautiful expression as her heart is
full of faith, hope, and love.'

One of the most pleasing of the poems in Christina

22 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

^ '

/

Rossetti's * New Poems * is that addressed * To Lalla,.
<v^'^ the favourite name of her cousin Henrietta Polydore.
The latter was only three years old when the poem
i^ was written. Her father, Henry Polidori, had Angli-

cised his name. The lines incidentally point the moral
that wisdom of the heart is better than knowledge
of the head. It is a trite moral, but rarely has it been
better expressed than here.

Read on : if you knew it
You have cause to boast :

You are much the wiser
Though I know the most.

During many of her early years Christina Rossettf
attended Christ Church, Albany Street, Regent's Park
— a plain, somewhat unattractive building in external
aspect. Mr. Clayton has told me that he frequently
encountered her and other members of her family after
service. On such occasions she would say little, but
what she did say was sometimes memorable. When
meeting her elsewhere about the same date, she would
sometimes speak with great vigour and energy, though
usually she was very reticent, hardly giving utterance to
more than the usual commonplaces. This fitful energy
and power in conversation, coming as a contrast to her
habitual reserve, was one of the reasons why, in my in-
formant's opinion, she came to be regarded, even in her
early years, as a marked personality. Mr. Clayton does
not think that at this time she was lovely in the exact
sense, although about her face there was always an
interest that excelled the charm of mere loveliness.
There was likewise an indescribable but prevailing sad-
ness that constrained the onlooker to regard her with
deep attention. This sadness partly resulted from

ILL-HEALTH 23

several ailments from which she then suffered, and which
she then thought might terminate fatally. In this connec-
tion two of her early poems, 'Looking Forward/
recently alluded to, and * Life Hidden,' dated respec-
tively June 8 and July 23, 1849, which appeared first in

* New Poems,' may be referred to. These pathetic lines
from the first-named poem give utterance to a melan-
choly too deeply felt to be uttered superficially :

Sweet thought that I may yet live and grow green.
That leaves may yet spring from the withered root,

And buds and flowers and berries half unseen ;

Then, if you haply muse upon the past,

Say this : poor child, she has her wish at last ;
Barren through life, but in death bearing fruit.

Several of her early friends say that about this period
a certain degree of restraint and pride was observable
in Christina's demeanour. She herself alludes to this in

* Is and Was,' written in the spring of 1850, and first
printed by her brother William in * New Poems.' . He
there informs us that a lady told Christina she

* seemed to do all from self-respect, not from fellow
feeling with others, or from kindly consideration for them.
Christina mentioned the remark, with an admission that
it hit a blot in her character, in which a certain amount
of reserve and distance, not remote from hauteur^ was
certainly at that time perceptible. She laid the hint to
heart, and, I think, never forgot it,*

and he adds in a communication to myself, * Afterwards
Christina wrote the poem, and this verse

Doing all from self-respect
m it.

Our interest in the poem is increased when we thus

find it contains autobiographical touches.

In 1851 the family left 50 Charlotte Street, and went

>■

24 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

to reside at 38 Arlington Street, Momington Crescent
For some years before and after this date their means
were much straitened. The father's emoluments had
been considerably reduced, for German had become at
the moment more popular than Italian, while his fail-
ing sight, and of late even his failing general health, con-
tinued a source of further anxiety. Dante Gabriel had
as yet achieved not much pecuniary success as a painter
and none as a poet, while William Michael, now in the
Civil Service, was only at the beginning of his career as
a literary and artistic critic.

The need had therefore arisen for augmenting the
family pecuniary resources, and Mrs. Rossetti, assisted
by Christina, opened a day school at 38 Arlington
Street, while Maria Francesca went out as a daily
governess, chiefly giving lessons in Italian. The day
school was not altogether prosperous, producing * very
little income ' (I quote from a private communication
from her surviving brother), and in April 1853 it was
deemed advisable that Christina with her father and
mother should go to reside at Frome Selwood (better
known merely as Frome) in Somersetshire — Maria, Dante
Gabriel, and William remaining in London. At Frome
also Mrs. Rossetti kept a day school, in the management
of which Christina took part ; but the result was no more
satisfactory than in London.

The eleven months during which Christina Rossetti
lived at Frome were the longest period she ever spent out
of London. Probably she then acquired, i^through ob-
/ servation, ' some of the considerable knowledge she
! possessed of country objects. Mr. Watts-Dunton has
said in the obituary notice contributed to * The Athe-
naeum,* to which I have before referred :

RESIDENCE AT FROME 25

* It is, of course, a great disadvantage to any poet
not to have been born in the country : learned in Nature
the city-bom poet can never be, as we see in the case of
Milton, who loved Nature without knowing her. It is
here that Miss Ingelow has such an advantage over
Christina Rossetti. Her love of flowers, and birds, and
trees, and all that makes the earth so beautiful, is not
one Ayhit stronger than Christina's own, but it is a love
bom of an exhaustive detailed knowledge of Nature's
Ufe/

Doubtless Jean Ingelow excelled Christina Rossetti in
* exhaustive detailed knowledge of Nature's life.' But
though sharing to some extent Mr. Watts-Dunton's
opinion, I cannot altogether concur in it. For it seems
to me that Christina Rossetti's actual knowledge of
Nature was greater than he here supposes. It must not
be forgotten, however, that he speaks from actual know-
ledge of Christina while staying in the country.

Christina did not look back with any pleasure to
her sojourn at Frome. If I mistake not, once or twice
she alluded incidentally to it in talking to me, though
never appreciatively. Concerning it Mr. W. M. Rossetti
writes to me :

* I can remember that the part of the town in which
Christina lived was called Fromefield (I was there
once, or perhaps twice). This, according to my re-
■collection, was an integral part of Frome, but not in the
centre of the town, which is a hilly up-and-down sort of
place. At that date (at any rate) it was a regular
countrified sort of town — not absolutely small, but
certainly not much marked by traffic or shop-display.'

Possibly the somewhat untoward family circumstances
had to do with the feeling she may have had on the
subject Perhaps also Frome was too considerable a
town to be sufficiently * countrified * for Christina's taste.

26 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

In * Time Flies/ under date of April 2, she narrates-
an incident referring to Frome. She tells us how in
one of her country walks, being then entirely ignorant
of its rarity, she lighted upon a four-leaved trefoil. She
goes on to say :

* Perhaps I plucked and so destroyed it : I certainljr
left it, for most certainly I have it not.

• • • • • •

* Now I would give something to recover that.
wonder: then^ when I might have had it for the
carrying, I left it

' Once missed, one may peer about in vain all the rest
of one's days for a second four-leaved trefoil.

* No one expects to find whole fields of such : evea
one, for once, is an extra allowance.

' Life has, so to say, its four-leaved trefoils for a
favoured few : and how many of us overlook once and
finally our rare chance ! '

Some time after the publication of * Time Flies,' one
of her admirers on reading the above passage sent to
her a four-leaved trefoil which she preserved carefully.

During Christina's residence at Frome her brother,.
Dante Gabriel, was at work in London on his picture
called * Found,' about which so much has been written,,
and speaks thus in one of his letters to his mother, dated
Arlington Street, September 30, 1853 :

^ I believe I shall be wanting to paint a brick wall,
and a white heifer tied to a cart going to market
Such things are I suppose to be had at Frome, and it
has occurred to me that I should like if possible to come
and paint them there. There is a cattle-market, is
there not i Have you ever seen such an article as the
heifer in question, and have you or Christina any
recollection of an eligible and accessible brick wall ?
I should want to get up and paint it early in the
mornings, as the light ought to be that of dawn. It
should be not too countrified (yet beautiful in colour)

tf I ^mammmm

* NICK ' 27

as it is to represent a city- wall. A certain modicum of
moss would therefore be admissible, but no prodigality
of grass, weeds, ivy, etc. Can you give any information
on these heads ? I suppose Christina's pictorial eye will
by this time have some insight into the beauties of brick
M^ls — the preferability of purplish prevailing tint to
yellowish, etc.

* I suppose Christina has not been working much at the
Art ? Will you tell her that I am quite ashamed of not
being able yet to tell her anything positive about " Nick " ?
I am constantly remembering it when Hannay is not in
the way, and always forgetting it when he is. I have
now resolved to remember it the next time I see him,
and, if I am baulked again, to write to him the next
time I think of it*

Dante Gabriel, however, painted the 'brick wall'
not at Frome, but at Chiswick, as we learn from his
characteristic letters to William Allingham, edited
skilfully by Dr. George Birkbeck Hill.* * Hannay,'
referred to in Dante Gabriel's letter, was James Hannay,
the novelist, and *Nick' was a tale, to be mentioned
by-and-by in connection with Christina's * Commonplace
and Other Short Stories.' Presumably Dante Gabriel
intended to recommend it to Hannay for publication.

A drawing of Christina was made by Dante Gabriel
in October 1852, and by the permission of her brother
William is reproduced here for the first time. I quote
what follows from a communication made by the latter
to me :

* Towards 1852 (perhaps) C[hristina]'s illness was
considered to be essentially angina pectoris, . . . Dr.
Crellin was called in, and he set her fairly right as
regards those particular symptoms.

* C[hristina]'s knowledge of Sir W[illiam] Jenner
began towards 1854. In 1853, when C[hristina] with

* Atlantic Monthly, May — August, 1896.

28 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

our parents went to Frome, Maria and I took lodgings in
Albany Street (not the same house wh[ich] we all after-
wards occupied as a family residence), over a chemist's
shop, occupied by a Mr. Burcham — who turned out to be
also an amateur painter of still life of considerable merit.
There Maria and I first met [Sir William] Jenner, not yet
a man of professional celebrity, and afterwards C[hristina]
did. She liked him, thinking his manner not un-
pleasantly scrutinizing, or ** formidable " — a point as to
which she was rather sensitive in medical concerns. I
am not clear that she ever consulted him professionally
until her terrible illness, exophthalmic bronchocele, begin-
ning in 1 87 1. He pronounced her then to be " a very
interesting case " — the malady being far from a common
one. After that she always consulted him (until he
retired from practice) at the more important crises of
her illnesses ; Dr. Stewart (who attended my Mother
and Aunts) being also employed by C[hristina] in the
ordinary course of events. C[hristina] had a particular
dislike if a doctor " looked surprised " when she men-
tioned her symptoms. Her liking for [Sir William]
Jenner was partly because he did not look surprised.*

Mr. Ford M. Hueffer, in the exhaustive life of his
grandfather. Ford Madox Brown, writes in allusion to
1852-1855 concerning one of the latter's chief religious
paintings, * Christ Washes Peter's Feet * :

* Apart from the intrinsic worth of the picture, it
has an historical interest of its own, in that it con-
tains portraits of several of the members of the P. R.
[Praeraphaelite] circle.

* The head of Christ is a literal transcript of that of
Mr. F. G. Stephens ; of the Apostles, omitting Judas, the
first on the left is Mr. W. M. Rossetti ; the second, Mr.
Holman Hunt ; the fourth, Mr. Hunt, sen. ; the fifth,
C[harles] B[agot] Cayley ; the sixth, D. G. Rossetti, and
the seventh, St. John, is, I believe. Miss Christina
Rossetti. Mr. William Rossetti is, however, rather of
opinion that it was Deverell, the P. R. [Praeraphaelite]
who sat for the head.'

-r rm, mtm'

HENRIETTA POLYDORE 29

However, * The Athenaeum ' for February 27, 1897, in
a review of Mr. Hueffer's life of his grandfather, states :

*He[Mr. Huefferjerrs . . . in thinking that the head
of St John in Brown's " Christ Washes Peter's Feet," now
in the National Galler>', was painted from Christina
Rossetti. There was excuse for this belief before the
lady found herself unable to remember sitting for the
head ; but Mr. W. Rossetti is certainly mistaken in
supposing Deverell, whom it does not at all resemble,
sat for it'

Christina addressed to Henrietta Polydore another
lyric some years afterwards, the beautiful poem entitled
* Next of Kin,' dated February 21, 1853. But here both
motive and subject are more in accordance with her usual
manner than is the case in * To Lalla.' The poem also
betokens an expectation of speedy death, which runs
through many of her early verses. She addresses her
cousin as

You, white as dove or lily or spirit of the light :
I, stained and cold and glad to hide in the cold dark night :
You, joy to many a loving heart and light to many eyes :
I, lonely in the knowledge earth is full of vanities.

It may, perhaps, be permissible to say here, paren-
thetically, as showing how early fears may be falsified by
fact, that while Christina herself lived an average length
of life, and died from a disease far other than that which,
in early years, seemed to threaten her, the young lady
to whom these poems were addressed died twenty years
before her of consumption, the very disease Christina
feared for herself when she wrote the poem last named.

The piece of the same date, entitled * Portraits,' is
possibly not very poetic in quality, but is very inter-
esting autobiographically. It consisted originally of
three stanzas,' the first descriptive of her brother

^vV

30 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

William ; the second of her brother Dante Gabriel ; and
the third containing a sisterly reference to both brothers.
Most readers will share her brother William's regret that
the MS. of the second stanza is lost, having presum-
^ ' ably been destroyed of set purpose by Dante Gabriel
According to the same authority, Christina was a diligent
correspondent, and knew well Miss Macdonald, now
Lady Bume-Jones, corresponding with her ; and was
also acquainted with Lady Bume-Jones's two sisters,
now respectively Mrs. Lockwood Kipling (mother of
the celebrated writer) and Lady Poynter, though the
latter she knew only slightly.

Sometimes in these early years Christina was asked
to write verses for friends, and these were not always
very appropriate to the occasion, as when she contri-
buted the mournful lines beginning —

Do you hear the low winds singing.
And streams singing on their bed ?

Very distant bells are ringing
In a chapel for the dead —

to the album of a youthful friend, Miss Orme, afterwards
the wife of Professor Masson of Edinburgh.

Readers of 'New Poems* will recollect the delicately
touched lyric called 'What?' dated May 1853, and
ending with the lines :

Glorious as purple twilight.

Pleasant as budding tree,
Untouched as any islet

Shrined in an unknown sea :
Sweet as a fragrant rose amid the dew : —

As sweet, as fruitless too.
A bitter dream to wake from.

But oh how pleasant while we dream I
A poisoned fount to take from, 1 /

But oh how sweet the stream ! ^ ^

FIRST OFFER OF MARRIAGE 3 1

This poem is the first of several in that volume, to depict
-what her younger brother has called * an unhappy love-
passage ' in his sister's life. During 1 849, or possibly late
in 1848, she was sought in marriage by a painter very well
known in her circle. She regarded him with favour. But
he was a Roman Catholic, and she determined to decline
his suit owing to ' religious considerations.'

32 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER II

BIOGRAPHICAL {continued)

(Mainly 1854-1876)

Returns to London — Death of Gabriele Rossetti — Straitened circnmstances
— Miscellaneous writings — Literary income up to 1890 — Hastings —
Newcastle-on-Tyne — Brookbank, Shottermill, Haslemere — Chelten-
ham — Second offer of marriage — Foreign travel — Switzerland — Italy —
Dr. Gordon Hake — The Rev. Dr. Littledale — Chalk drawing by Dante
Gabriel, 1866 — Penkill Castle, Ayrshire — Removal to 56 Euston
Square, now 5 Endsleigh Gardens — Serious illness — Meads, East-
bourne — Devotion to her family — Her sister's * Shadow of Dante ' —
Her own papers on Dante — Dante's Lucifer and Milton's Satan
contrasted— Her sister's influence upon her in religious matters — Her
sister and Mr. John Ruskin.

In March 1854 Christina returned to London with
her father and mother, and went to reside at the house
of her brother William, then 45 Upper Albany Street,
but now 166 Albany Street, Regent's Park. Here, only
a month afterwards, in April 1854, her father died.

For a while there was no material alteration either
in the circumstances or in the prospects of the family.
Christina wrote, though she did not publish, much
poetry, and also some prose.

Respecting some of her miscellaneous writings
Mr. W. M. Rossetti has written to me :

'There are many articles by C[hristina] on Italian
writers and other celebrities in a cyclopaedia called
the " Imperial Dictionary of Biography" and edited by
Dr. Waller. She undertook something (and may pos-

MISCELLANEOUS WORK 33

sibly have executed it) for [the Rev. Dr.] Grosart's edition
of Spenser. . . . Towards 1855 a Translation was pub-
lished of the " Memoirs of Mallet du Pan " : part of this was
done by C[hristina], much more by myself and another
[Mr. Benjamin H. Paul]. Also at some date, wh[ich] may
have been tow[ards] i865,C[hristina] certainly did some
translating-work in connection with a book in Italian
about Architecture — I forget the details, but may possibly
light upon them some time — and she revised (say a little
earlier) an edition (riiay have been [that of the] S.P.C.K.
[The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]) of
Diodati's Italian New Testament, in very small print
— I recollect Gabriel remonstrated with her for over-
working her eyes.'

Regarding Christina Rossetti's share in his edition of
Spenser, Dr. Grosart has written to me :

* Miss Rossetti's intention to trace Italian poets in
Spenser fell through from her ill-health, as I understood.
She sent me at the outset two pages of note-paper with
a few Dante and Boccaccio references taken, I think,
from Todd's Spenser, with one or two of (possibly) her
own. ... I need hardly say that even though so slight
I would gladly have sent you her notes had they been
of sufficient value.'

From the diary of Ford Madox Brown comes this
glimpse of her in 1856 :

Christina Rossetti called ; she is reading Carlyle
with her mother.

When Arthur, the child of Mr. and Mrs. Madox
Brown, died in 1856 or 1857, Christina wrote to his
mother :

• Mamma unites with me in affectionate sympathy
with you on the loss of poor Arthur : indeed I was quite
grieved at the news Lucy brought us this morning ; and
cannot forbear telling you so, though it seems almost a
mockery to talk of my sorrow to hi.« parents. I hope we

D

34 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

shall all follow Nolly's [Oliver Madox Brown's] advice,
and go and see him some day — Yet it is a relief poor
little dear to think he is now out of all his pain for ever,'

The little incident narrated at April lo of * Time
Flies ' has no date assigned to it in that volume. It
occurred, however, at the Botanical Gardens, Regent's
Park, about j86o. Such an incident, if told by an
ordinary narrator, would be commonplace — told as she
knew how to tell it, it becomes most fascinating :

* One day long ago I sat in a certain garden by a
certain ornamental water.

* I sat so long and so quietly that a wild garden crea-
ture or two made its appearance : a water rat, perhaps,
or a water-haunting bird. Few have been my personal
experiences of the sort, and this one gratified me. I
was absorbed that afternoon in anxious thought, yet the
slight incident pleased me.

.••*■••

* Many (I hope) whom we pity as even wretched, ma}-
in reality, as I was at that moment, be conscious of
some small secret fount of pleasure : a bubble, perhaps,
yet lit by a dancing rainbow.

* I hope so and I think so : for we and all creatures
alike are in God's hands, and God loves us.'

The next few years of Christina Rossetti's life,
though not outwardly eventful, were yet important.
They witnessed a gradual increase of the family pro-
sperity, and they were also years in which she began
to gain repute as a noticeable poet. For although her
first mature volume, * Goblin Market and Other Poems,'
did not appear until 1862, a great deal of the verse
composing it was written earlier. Despite the favour-
able reception of her books, they did not until about
1 890 bring her much money — her average income from
literature up to that date hardly amounted to £^0

>">„- Wm, ^~p"i»^

LITERARY INCOxME BEFORE AND AFTER 189O 35

*

or £4$ a year. After 1 890 her income from literature
became relatively large.

She generally resided in London, but spent not-
withstanding some time both in the country and at
the seaside, her visits to congenial friends being espe-
cially sources of enjoyment to her. She first saw the
sea at Heme Bay, and among other marine resorts she
visited were Clacton and Deal. Her Italian poem
* Lisetta air Amante ' was written at Folkestone in 1 A- ^^' '

August 1846, and she was again at the same place in J^u '^ 1 i,
August 1871. \jji^'^^ '

She was always delicate, but more particularly so in
her early years. In opening womanhood and even up
to 1863 she was troubled with symptoms which, it
was supposed, as has been said before, pointed to
phthisis. Hence anything of the nature of a cold was
always regarded with some measure of anxiety. For
the benefit of her health she spent the winter months,
which closed 1864 and began 1865, at Hastings, with her
mother and her cousin Henrietta.

It was either during this residence at Hastings or
during one of the four or five shorter visits she paid to
that place that the incident occurred she recounts so
excellently in * Time Flies ' under date of May 15. She
there says how, when one of a luncheon party, she heard
a General who was present relate that, when returning
from shooting one day, he observed * a speck in the sky.'
Taking it for a wandering bird he aimed at it * his last
random shot,' but he felt no surprise at no result fol-
lowing when he remembered the considerable distance
between him and the object. The General had at home
a robin — originally wild and still allowed to go at large
— a bird that had acquired a certain degree of tameness

D 2

36 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

through the kindness shown to it. To this 'free familiar
bird ' the General was greatly attached, but it * never
came again' after the day just mentioned, and ever
afterwards he was of opinion that, on the occasion
referred to, he had himself unwittingly shot it, and
when he told the anecdote he was unable to do so
* without emotion.' This is Christina's comment :

' Let us have mercy on each other and forgive : even
a wronged robin's silence and absence were hard to
bear.'

The officer just referred to. General Ludlow, married
Miss Leigh Smith, sister of the lady who, as Mrs.
Bodichon, became favourably known through her close
connection with Girton College. A portion of the
winter of 1864 was also passed by Christina Rossetti at
Hastings with her uncle and cousin.

In a pleasant article entitled, ' A Poetic Trio,' con-
tributed by ' M.' to ' The Athenaeum ' (No. 3,641,
August 7, 1 897), we find a rather amusing account of
a * great sewing competition,' in which Christina, Jean
Ingelow, and Dora Greenwell engaged, in 1863-4.

Christina stayed at least on three occasions with Mr.
and Mrs. Bell Scott at Newcastle-on-Tyne with especial
pleasure. Here she met Dora Greenwell, who, it will be
remembered, addressed to her the fine poem beginning :

Thou hast filled me a golden cup
With a drink divine that glows,
With the bloom that is flowing up
From the heart of the folded rose.

Concerning the friendship of these two, Mr. W. M.
Rossetti has written to me as follows :

* Dora and Christina met several times [at Newcastle-

DORA GREENWELL — VISITS SHOTTERMILL 27

on-Tyne] and liked one another much : the acquaint-
ance may have begun towards 1858, and continued on
andofrtillD[oraJs death: . . . they did not meet ^/^».
I myself met D[ora] two or three times, when she was
getting on towards 40 : a slim dark rather tall woman,
of an elegant-serious type ; there was something particu-
larly pleasing in her tone of voice and mode of elocution
— a graceful sweet tripping delivery/

Christina visited Clifton, and Darlaston in Stafford-
shire. On more than one occasion she stayed with her
attached friend, Anne Gilchrist, when the latter lived
at Brookbank, Shottermill, near Haslemere, a charm-
ingly situated and most picturesque house afterwards
associated with George Eliot, for there the novelist
wrote a good deal of * Middlemarch.' In a published
letter Anne Gilchrist thus describes Christina after the
conclusion of her first visit to Brookbank : *

*We were both altogether charmed with Miss
Rossetti — there is a sweetness, an unaffected simplicity
and gentleness, with all her gifts that is very winning —
and I hope to see more of her. She was so kind to the
children and so easy to please and make comfortable
that, though a stranger to me, she was not at all a
formidable guest.'

This sojourn was in summer, and owing to the resi-
dence at Hastings, already referred to, she was unable to
go to Brookbank in the ensuing winter. Her fondness for
children and some of her theories about education are
both referred to in the following extract from a letter
addressed to Anne Gilchrist :

* What a great girl the little Grace of my admiring
memory has become. Pray ask your " nurse " and your
** sunshine " to accept my love. As to a stand in their

' For this, and other quotations from the same source, see Li/e and
iMtert of Anne Gilchrist,

38 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

education surely they may gain more by tending a
beloved mother than by a great many books ; though for
all your sakes it will indeed be a joyful day when you
can take your old place amongst those who love you.

* My mother and sister and William join me in all
the affectionate good wishes which this season calls
out. William also joins me in a return-offering of
photographs, though you will notice that what represents
myself is not taken from me direct but from a great
drawing Gabriel did of me in 1866. This must account
to you for its unblemished smoothness and finish.'

* The little Grace of my admiring memory ' — Miss
Grace Gilchrist, now Mrs. Frend — contributed to * Good
Words ' for December 1896 an article about Christina
Rossetti full of sympathetic discernment. Two extracts
may be made descriptive of Mrs. Frend's early reminis-
cences of her :

* My first recollection of Christina Rossetti hovers
in the sunny dreamland of earliest childhood, and in
this, it may be, the ethereal grace of her rare poet's
nature finds its most appropriate setting. For then it is
that I have a vivid impression of playing a game of ball
with her one summer afternoon upon a sloping lawn,
undet the branches of an old apple tree in the garden
of a tiny hamlet among the Surrey hills. It was in the
June of 1863 that Miss Christina Rossetti came upon
her first memorable visit to my home there ; she was
then a dark-eyed, slender lady, in the plenitude of her
poetic powers, having already written some of her most
perfect poems — " Goblin Market " and " Dream Land"

*To my child's eyes she appeared like some fair}"
princess who had come from the sunny south to play
with me. In appearance she was Italian, with olive
complexion and deep hazel eyes. She possessed, too,
the beautiful Italian voice all the Rossettis were gifted
with — a voice made up of strange, sweet inflexions,
which rippled into silvery modulations in sustained
conversation, making ordinary English words and
phrases fall upon the ear with a soft, foreign, musical

SHOTTERMILL — CHELTENHAM — GLOUCESTER ^9

intonation, though she pronounced the words them-
selves with the purest of Engh'sh accents. Most of all
I used to wonder at and admire the way in which she
would take up, and hold in the hollow of her hand,
cold little frogs and clammy toads, or furry many-legged
caterpillars, with a fearless love that we country children
could never emulate. Even to the individual whisk of
one squirrel's tail from another's, or the furtive scuttle of
a rabbit across a field or common, nothing escaped her
nature-loving ken ; yet her excursions into the country
were as angels' visits, " few and far between " ; but when
there, how much she noted of flower and tree, beast and
bird !

• • • • • • •

* As a quaint instance of her shyness which was
wholly charming, I can recall one little incident of her
first visit to my niother.

* Upon her arrival she was shown to her room, to
prepare for the simple meal of the household. She
arrived by an afternoon train, and it must have been a
late tea-supper. My mother, finding after the lapse
of some time that she did not appear in the drawing-
room circle, went upstairs in search of her, and, tapping
at her door, found Miss Rossetti ready, but waiting, in
some trepidation, too shy to venture down alone, or to be
formally announced by the servant, into the expectant
group in the drawing-room.'

Christina visited Cheltenham and Gloucester on four
or five occasions as the guest of her uncle, Mr. Henry
Polydore, who resided in both of these places at different
times.

Intense symbolism was an inherent attribute of her
mind, and shows itself both in her poetry and in her
prosey notably in * Time Flies.' In the last-named, she
tells us of the pleasure she experienced from examin-
ing the lovely tints of some ancient Venetian glass, and
how one day, when in the country, she found in a
ditch a broken bottle, which, having been oxydised, also

40 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

displayed * in a minor key ... a variety of iridescent
tints, a sort of dull rainbow.' She ends quaintly thus :

* If it is well for the few to rejoice in sun-rise and
moon-rise it is no less well for the many to be thankful
for dim rainbows.'

The fine collection of old Venetian glass she had
seen at the house of Mr. Virtue Tebbs ; the broken
bottle she had found near Cheltenham.

During one of these sojourns at Cheltenham she
visited Malvern, and in the course of a letter addressed

to Anne Gilchrist calls it * very delightful with its grand

• • • • *

old priory church and view-commanding hills.'

A little note from his mother to Dante Gabriel, now
living at i6 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea (then called Tudor
House) may be introduced here as showing the some-
what curious mixture of respect and affection with
which he was regarded by his family circle.

June 27th, 1864.

* My dear Gabriel, — May I have the heartfelt pleasure
of your presence at tea at 8 o'clock on Thursday^
when a few of our friends will be assembled ?

* Pray give your ultimatum to Christina and know
that I am for ever and ever

* Your affect* mother

* Frances Rossetti.'

Christina Rossetti received a second offer of marriage
— her suitor, in this instance, being a man of letters and
pre-eminently a scholar. Again she was favourably
disposed towards her suitor, and again, actuated by
religious scruples, she was constrained to reject his offer,
for, in the words of her surviving brother, he was * either
not a Christian at all, or else was a Christian of
undefined and heterodox views.' This incident, which
terminated about 1 866, was more deeply felt by her

LETTERS TO MISS LUCY MADOX BROWN 4 1

than was her first attachment, and it is to this that the
touching poem entitled * II Rosseggiar deir Oriente '
relates. This incident, and the other incident of a
similar kind, make clear many allusions in her poetry,
particularly the fine lyric called 'Memory.* Both of
her suitors pre-deceased her.

Here are inserted some letters and extracts from
letters addressed to Miss Lucy Madox Brown, after-
wards Mrs. W. M. Rossetti. What immediately follows
is of an earlier date than June 1865. * Nolly' is, of
course, Oliver Madox Brown ; * Golden Deeds ' is pre-
sumably the work with that title by Miss Yonge ; and
* Clemenza di Tito ' is one of Metastasio's operatic
dramas.

166 Albany St. N.W.

Wednesday Evening.

' My dear Lucy, — I am in fact only Maria's pen.
Yesterday she sought but failed to find an opportunity
of asking you " unbeknown " whether Nolly happens to
possess * Golden Deeds,' a little book which she thinks
might interest him and also supply him with pictorial
subjects. Will you accept her love and oblige her by
an answer, as she proposes to herself the pleasure of
giving it him in case he has not got it ?

* In thinking about my " Clemenza di Tito," I have
no reason to believe that when I lent it Mrs. [Madox]
Brown it was anything but a perfect copy ; and I very
much regret the loss of its leaf, as it is a present of my
mother's and much valued by us. If by chance the
missing leaf can be found I shall be particularly glad ;
probably we might have the volume bound, but of
course not if it remains imperfect. I shall look for the
leaf amongst the other music when this comes back to
me ; but of course it cannot be helped if it is really
lost.

' I won't send kind regards, because Maria's message
IS somewhat in the nature of a " private."

* Always your affectionate

* Christina G. Rossettl'

42 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Again I am Maria's pen. This time to ask your
acceptance of her long-promised carte: she received
it from Harrogate only this morning, and loses not a
moment in sending it with her love ; only she does
this by proxy because she had to go out early on a
melancholy teeth expedition.

'Thank you most warmly for having done me so
kind and great a service as to hunt up the missing leaf
of " Clemenza " ; Mamma is as pleased as myself at its
recovery.

* I saw Sir W. Jenner again to-day ; and don't feel on
the high road to your pleasant party, though he says I
am better.

' Mamma, William and I think of going to the Rifle
soiree to-night at University College : we have a spare
half ticket, and if you will like to go also, pray join us
and appear under our venerable wing. Please be with
us not later than a quarter before 8, as Mamma wishes
not to go very late.

* I hope this will reach in time : of course if we do

not see you, we must conclude you are prevented

coming. (I confide to you my private opinion that

William will not start before 8.) '

July 19th.

'Dear Lucy, — The enclosed knobbed bodkin will
remind you of me, and is accompanied by my affec-
tionate wishes that you may enjoy many happy returns
of this day.

* With Christina's love, believe us both

* Your truly attached friends,

'Frances Rossetti.
'Christina G. Rossetti.'

Mr. Edmund Gosse, in the excellent article on
Christina Rossetti in his admirable ' Critical Kit-Kats,'
says:

' Gabriel Rossetti, both as poet and painter, remained
very Italian to the last, but his sister is a thorough
Englishwoman. Unless I make a great mistake, she has

FOREIGN TRAVEL 43

scarcely visited Italy, and in her poetry the landscape
and the observation of Nature are not only English,
they are so thoroughly local that I doubt whether there
is one touch in them all which proves her to have
strayed more than fifty miles from London in any
direction. I have no reason for saying so beyond
internal evidence, but I should be inclined to suggest
that the county of Sussex alone is capable of having
supplied all the imagery which Miss Rossetti's poems
contain. Her literary repertory, too, seems purely
English ; there is hardly a solitary touch in her work
which betrays her transalpine parentage.'

Surely, however, the critic's statement here is some-
what needlessly emphatic. It is true that according to our
modern notions Christina Rossetti had not much foreign
travel. Yet she was not wholly without this experience ;
its influence has left abiding traces on her writings ;
and, even in her poetry, once and again she described
aspects of Nature not to be seen in England. Although
the opportunity for travel possessed by her brother
William was necessarily limited to an annual summer
vacation, owing to his professional duties at Somerset
House ; yet on two occasions he travelled with Christina
on the Continent of Europe. In 1861 he took his
mother and herself to Paris and Normandy, returning by
Jersey, the sojourn abroad occupying about six weeks.
Her second and most important tour, though only filling
the same space of time, occurred in 1865. With the
same companions she then proceeded through France
and by Basle, the Lake of Lucerne, and the St. Gotthard
to Italy. The party visited Como, Pavia, Brescia,
Bei^amo, and Milan, taking on their way northwards the
Spliigen, Schaffhausen, Freiburg in the Black Forest,
and Strasburg. Mountain scenery delighted Christina
inexpressibly ; pictures, and such matters of fine art

44

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

appealed to her much less. There is a most interesting
hint as to her feelings in Switzerland in * Time Flies/
under date June ip. She there speaks of what she aptly
calls the 'saddening influence of mountain scenery.*
For this she does not seek to assign a definite cause, sug-
gesting, however, that because the * mass and loftiness ' of
high mountains far exceed the * physical magnitudes '
— magnitudes mainly of sea and sky — to which our
eyes are accustomed, therefore * their sublimity impresses
us like want of sympathy.'

This is, I think, a very just explanation of a mood
of mind which many of us who have lived much amid
high mountains must have often known. The truly
great poet, by subtle discrimination, often reveals to us
the secrets of mental phenomena. In the passage just
referred to she goes on to tell how she was * saddened
and probably weary.' (Readers of Mr. Ruskin will
remember his experience in like circumstances as to the
Alps.) Then she * passed indoors, losing sight for a
moment of the mountains.' But here let me supplement
the narrative, and tell what happened subsequently, from
information given me by Mr. W. M. Rossetti, who was
present. By-and-by, when she entered the lai^e saloon
of the H6tel Schweizerhof at Lucerne, where she was
staying, she beheld suddenly, from a window, *with
apparent ecstacy,* the magnificent panorama of the
Righi towards sunset. She makes an eloquent reference
to this incident in Sonnet XXII. of * Later Life,' where
she says :

The mountains in their overwhelming might
Moved me to sadness when I saw them first,

And afterwards they moved me to delight ;

Struck harmonies from silent chords which burst
Out into song, a song by memory nursed ;

FOREIGN TRAVEL 45

For ever unrenewed by touch or sight
Sleeps the keen magic of each day or night,
In pleasure and in wonder then immersed.

An equally interesting allusion to this tour is seen
in Sonnet XXI. of the same fine series, where she gives
a most charming reminiscence of Como. She says :

A host of things I take on trust : I take
The nightingales on trust, for few and far
Between those actual summer moments are

AVhen I have heard what melody they make.

So chanced it once at Como on the Lake :
But all things, then, waxed musical ; each star
Sang on its course, each breeze sang on its car,

All harmonies sang to senses wide awake.

She adds, after a few lines of further vivid descrip-
tion,

For June that night glowed like a doubled June.

Another incident of this tour worthy of record is
mentioned in * Time Flies ' under date September 16.
Christina there expresses her regret that, when descend-
ing a mountain, she did not turn to look at a foambow
on the mountain torrent seen by her companion, and
she evidently felt poignant disappointment at having
accidentally missed the beautiful sight. Her com-
panion was her brother William, and she was descend-
ing the Splugen. As a sequel to the foregoing remarks
an extract from a letter to Anne Gilchrist may be quoted,
more especially as it brings into pleasing prominence
some of her marked traits, her love for her mother and
her love for children :

* Our small continental tour proved enjoyable beyond
words ; a pleasure in one's life never to be forgotten.
My mother throve abroad, and not one drawback worth
dwelling upon occurred to mar our contentment Such

46 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

unimaginable beauties and grandeur of nature as we
beheld no pen could put on paper ; so I obviously need
not exert myself to tell you what Lucerne \yas like, or
what the lovely majesty of Mount St Gotthard, or what
the Lake of Como, with its nightingale accompaniment,
or what as much of Italy as we saw to our half-Italian
hearts. Its people is a noble people, and its very cattle
are of high-bom aspect. I am glad of my Italian
blood. I don't say a word about art treasures : the
truth being that I far prefer Nature treasures, but we saw
glorious specimens of both classes. Our longest stay
was at Milan ; where we witnessed a rather interesting
ceremony, the unveiling by Prince Omberto of a statue
of Cavour. At Milan, too, we went over a most in-
teresting institution, ^he Ospedale Maggiore ; the
children's ward was ^uite a pretty sight) with its
population of poor little patients.'

Christina says above that she will not attempt tp
describe Mount St. Gotthard. Yet she did so on two
occasions. In one of the sonnets in * Later Life ' she
thus speaks :

St. Gotthard, garden of forget-me-not :
Yet why should such a flower choose such a spot ?
Could we forget that way which once we went
Though not one flower had bloomed to weave its crown ?

And some time afterwards she wrote in * Time Flies '
under date of June 13 and 14:

* Years ago a small party of us crossed the Alps
into Italy by the Pass of Mount St. Gotthard.

* We did not tunnel our way like worms through fts
dense substance. We surmounted its crest like eagles.

* Or, if you please, not at all like eagles : yet assuredly
as like those born monarchs as it consisted with our
possibilities to become.

• •••«•.

* At a certain point of the ascent Mount St. Gotthard
bloomed into an actual garden of forget-me-nots.

* Unforgotten and never to be forgotten that lovely

/

FOREIGN TRAVEL 47

lavish efflorescence which made earth cerulean as the
sky.

* Thus I remember the mountain. But without that
flower of memory could I have forgotten it ?

* Surely not : yet there, not elsewhere, a countless
multitude of forget-me-nots made their home/

These last two quotations are made not only for
their intrinsic value, but also because they constitute a
marked example of a poet putting the same ideas both
into verse and into prose.

Even yet the references to her foreign travel are not
exhausted. The two extracts about to be given from
* Time Flies,* under date August 4 and 22 respectively,
show how keenly she could observe :

* When I was in north Italy, a region rich in sun-
shine, heat, beauty, it struck me that after all our
English wild scarlet poppies excelled the Italian poppies
in gorgeous colour.

* I should have expected the direct contrary ; the
more sunshine, surely the more glow and redness : yet
it appeared otherwise when I came to look.

* Perhaps sheer stress of sunshine tended to bleach as
well as to dye those poppies.

• ••••••

' In north Italy I observed that whilst the cattle are
grand and beautiful beyond our English wont, the pigs
arc exceptionally mean and repulsive.

*Thus in one characteristically lovely land what
is fair shows at its fairest, what is ugly shows at its
ugliest.

* And if thus in the natural sphere, thus likewise in
the spiritual sphere.'

In her last book, ' The Face of the Deep, a devotional
commentary * on the Book of the Revelation (which I
shall deal with fully in Chapter IX.), concerning the
Biblical passage —

48 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is
rolled together; and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places —

she writes :

*Once, yeais ago in Normandy after a day of
flooding rain, I beheld the clouds roll up and depart and
the auspicious sky re-appear. Once in crossing the
Spliigen I beheld that moving of the mists which gives
back to sight a vanished world. Those veils of heaven
and earth removed, beauty came to light. What will it
be to see this same visible heaven itself removed and
unimaginable beauty brought to light in glory and
terror ! auspicious to the elect, by aliens unendurable.*

Her poem *En Route,' dated June 1865 — probably
one of the most beautiful, as being one of the most
personal of her poems — contains these lines :

Farewell, land of love, Italy,
Sister-land of Paradise :
With mine own feet I have trodden thee
Have seen with mine own eyes :
I remember, thou forgettest me,
I remember thee.

Blessed be the land that warms my heart,
And the kindly clime that cheers,

And the cordial faces clear from art.
And the tongue sweet in mine ears :

Take my heart, its truest tenderest part,
Dear land, take my tears.

About them her surviving brother has written :

* The passionate delight in Italy to which the second
section of " En Route " bears witness suggests that she
was almost an alien — or, like her father, an exile — in
the North. She never perhaps wrote anything better.
I can remember the intense relief and pleasure with
which she saw lovable Italian faces and heard musical

THE REV. DR. LITTLEDALE 49

Italian speech at Bellinzona after the somewhat hard
and nipped quality of the German Swiss/

Long before I came to know Christina Rossetti
personally, towards the close of her life, through the
kindness of the late Dr. Gordon Hake, I had been on very
intimate terms with the late Rev. Dr. R. F. Littledale,
the noted Anglican theologian and controversialist.
Dr. Littledale had first met Christina Rossetti at the
house of William Bell Scott in Elgin Road, Notting
Hill, soon after the latter's return to London in 1864.
She had become much attached to this clergyman,
with whom, indeed, she had had constant and close
intercourse of a religious kind. My own relations with
him were not the same, being none other than those of
ordinary friendship. But I had seen much of him, and
had loved him, and I think it was her knowledge of this
fact that caused Christina Rossetti to place me imme-
diately on a widely different footing with herself than
she would otherwise have done. In truth my acquaint-
anceship with her at once became friendship — if I may
use such a term to characterise my relations with one so
eminent From the very first she treated me not only
with a courtesy that had something peculiarly winning
about it, but with a degree of confidence and unreserve
which is rare, and which, coming from such a woman,
was singularly fascinating.

As to Dr. Littledale, she wrote in ' Time Flies * under
date of April 21 :

• Once in conversation I happened to lay stress on
the virtue of resignation, when the friend I spoke to
depreciated resignation in comparison with conformity
to the Divine Will.

* My spiritual height was my friend's spiritual hillock.

£

50 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Not that he reproved me : standing on a higher level
he made the way obvious for others also to ascend.'

On more than one occasion she talked to me about
Dr, Littledale at some length, and she quite ag^reed with
me when I averred that the bursts of merriment that
would break forth, despite his constant bad health and
unending pain, were quite irresistible. In * Time Flies *
she has further written about him thus, though in neither
case does she refer to him by name.

' He was a man . . . hindered and hampered in his
career by irremediable ill-health. And moreover he was
in occasional social intercourse one of the most cheerful
people I ever knew.*

In 1866 Dante Gabriel made a chalk drawing of
his sister. She is represented as seated at a small table.
A book is before her, and her face, in profile, rests on
her folded hands. Mr. Shields (than whom surely none
could be a better judge) greatly admires this drawing.
From what she herself said to me I am strongly of
opinion that of all her brother's portraits of herself, this
was her favourite. A reproduction forms the frontispiece
to this volume.

Christina Rossetti knew a little of Scotland, residing
once or twice with the late Miss Alice Boyd at Penkill
Castle in Ayrshire, but she never went further north.
She was there in 1866, and, somewhat later, she tells
Anne Gilchrist :

* If the end of my Penkill sojourn deprives me of
seeing you, its beginning mulcts me of a visit to the
Isle of Wight in which I was promised to meet Tenny-
son — poor me ! This invitation was only given me
yesterday, too late to be closed with : however I am
not certain that in any case I should have screwed my-

PEN KILL CASTLE 5 1

self up to accept it, as I am shy amongst strangers and
think things formidable ; '

while in 1870, to the same friend she thus writes :

' Even Naples in imagination cannot efface the quiet
fertile comeliness of Penkill in reality : and when,
beyond the immediate greenness, a gorgeous sunset
glorifies the sea distance one scarcely need desire aught
more exquisite in this world.'

Mr. Arthur Hughes, in the course of conversation,
has described to me in a very vivid manner the little ^^^ 4^^^ ,
f four-cornered )window of Christina Rossetti's bedroom Cxruieu^ I
at Penkill, which commanded a view over an old-
fashioned garden, and in which, according to Miss Boyd,
as quoted by my informant, she used to stand, leaning
forward, * her elbows on the sill, Jher hands supporting
her face* — the attitude in which she is represented in
Dante Gabriel's drawing of 1866, just alluded to. * The
little window exactly framed her,' added Mr. Hughes,
* and from the garden she could be seen for hours medi-
tating and composing.' Christina Rossetti's opinion of
Miss Boyd is expressed in the following words from a
letter to Anne Gilchrist :

' My more than seven weeks in Scotland proved a
thorough success, and have sent me home to receive
friendly congratulations on my looks and /at. I think
my dear hostess at Penkill Castle, Miss Boyd, might
charm you if you knew her : perhaps she is the prettiest
handsome woman I ever met, both styles being combined
in her fine face ; and Mr. and Mrs. Scott, who shared
the long visit with me, are tried old friends . . . and now
I am well content to be at home again, and to take my
turn at housekeeping.'

In February 1867, her aunt, Margaret Polidori died.

E2

•

52 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

For this lady, Dante Gabriel designed a memorial
window now in Christ Church, Albany Street.

In June of the same year, with her mother, her sister
Maria Francesca, and her brother William, Christina
removed to 56 Euston Square, now 5 Endsleigh
Gardens. Her aunts, Eliza and Charlotte Polidori, also
lived there — ^the latter, however, who was at the time
companion to the Dowager Marchioness of Bath at
Muntham, near Arundel, only intermittingly.

At this time Christina Rossetti occasionally went
into society. In 1868 Ford Madox Brown writes to his
wife about one of the ' At Homes ' where he gathered
round him so many famous men and women :

* The Martineaus, and the Rossettis, and the Streets,
can't come. However, Christina, if well enough, may.'

In April 1871 Christina was seized by *Dr. Graves's
Disease ' — or * Exophthalmic Bronchocele/ to give the
complaint its technical name. As almost invariably
happens with this disease, a long and serious illness
followed, accompanied by great suffering, and, until 1873,
her life was in constant danger. As soon as possible
she was removed to Hampstead for change of air, and
the 'Family Letters' of Dante Gabriel at this period
bear ample testimony to his constant and affectionate
solicitude on her behalf.

i might not have deemed it necessar>^ to give
precise details respecting this illness, had not the com-
plaint unhappily left its usual traces, and modified
her appearance. This was chiefly noticeable in a cer-
tain protruding of the eyes, though never, when I knew
her, so pronounced as to be disagreeable ; but her brother
informs me that at a much earlier date, particularly

EXOPHTHALMIC BRONCHOCELE 53

^bout 1872, the effects of this malady were more
visible. When I first met her she had acquired much
of the portliness of middle age, and her face in repose
was sometimes rather heavy and even unemotional.
But her smile was always delightful, and sometimes
irresistibly sweet, and, when in animated conversation
on some especially congenial theme, her face to the
last was comely.

It is this marked difference between the compara-
tively unattractive aspect of her features in repose, and
the great change which came over their lineaments during
animation, that make her photographs taken in later life
seem so unsatisfactory. There is considerable fidelity
to external fact in a full-face photograph taken by
Messrs. Elliott and Fry, well known through reproduc-
tions (which represents her with a book in her lap), but
in it her soul's beauty, so to speak, is altogether lacking.
It may be as well to quote what she herself said about
this photograph, and her portraits generally, in a letter
to Mrs. Patchett Martin, dated January 4, 1892 :

* The photograph I spoke of is one on sale (I believe)
at Elliott and Fry's, Baker Street, and as I do not think
I have a copy by me I must refer you thither. Of
course if you aimed at beauty rather than at aught else,
there are photographs on sale at Mansell's, 271 Oxford
Street, from beautiful drawings by my brother D. G. R :
but what between his being my brother and his over-
mastering love of beauty I dare not recommend these
as equally faithful with Elliott and Fry's stern transcript.
This last, and the last of the drawings, were taken I
believe in the same year 1877.'

Once, when she was so good as to write her name
on one of her photographs now in my possession, she
mentioned Messrs. Elliott and Fry as having produced,

54 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

on the whole, perhaps the most satisfactory photographs
of her in later life. It was agreed that I was to go to
Baker Street, procure specimens of the two photographs
obtainable there — that just mentioned^ and another with
the face in profile — and to submit them for her inspection,
retaining the one she most approved. I determined
beforehand not to express my own opinion as to their
relative merits, but I cordially agreed with her when she
chose unhesitatingly that in profile with downcast eyes.
On four or five occasions, in the years between 1870
and 1883, Christina Rossetti lived for a while, though not
herself a patient, at the Convalescent Hospital, Meads,
Eastbourne, connected with the Anglican Sisterhood of
All Saints, Margjaret Street, London. Maria Francesca,
deeply imbued with devotional feeling and allied by all
her religious sympathies with the Anglo-Catholic school
in the Anglican Church, had entered this community as
a novice in 1873, and in 1874 had joined it finally as a
fully professed Sister. Hence Christina, who had not
only a deep love, but a profound reverence, for Maria in
all things, was much en rapport with this Sisterhood.
Her brother has written to me :

* She was (I rather think) an outer Sister — but in no
sort of way professed — of the Convent which Maria after-
wards joined — Also at one time (i860 to '70) she used
pretty often to go to an Institution at Highgate for
redeeming "Fallen Women" — It seems to me that at
one time they wanted to make her a sort of super-
intendent there, but she declined — In her own neigh-
bourhood, Albany Street, she did a deal of district
visiting and the like.

* One thing which occupied C[hri.«itina] to an extent
one would hardly credit was the making-up of scrap-
books for Hospital patients or children — This may
possibly have begun before she removed to Torrington

l y ,■■■■■ ■ ,■■ 11, „ —i^—M<Bai ■ r it I I iig ul

MEADS

55

Sq[uare] : was certainly in very active exercise for several
years ensuing — say up to 1885, When I called to see
her and my mother it was 9 chances out of lo that
I found her thus occupied — I daresay she may have
made up at least 50 biggish scrapbooks of this kind —
taking some pains in adapting borderings to the pages
etc. etc.'

At Meads the incident took place narrated under
June 26 in *Time Flies/ and readers of that book, will
remember in what a vivid manner it is related. She
tells how 'one summer night' she saw 'a Parable of
Nature ' :

* The gas was alight in my little room with its
paperless bare wall.'

On the wall there was a spider. He perceived his
shadow without understanding what it was, and 'was
mad to disengage himself from the horrible pursuing
inalienable presence.' She brings the whole scene before
us concisely in a few well-chosen words, and to her ' this
self-haunted spider ' is a symbol of an * impenitent
sinner who having outlived enjoyment remains isolated
irretrievably with his own horrible loathsome self.' To
another mind such an occurrence might have seemed
trivial or have passed unnoticed. To her with her
genius for symbolism it appeared most noteworthy.

The following letter refers to a later visit to East-
bourne with her mother :

III Pevensey Road — Eastbourne.

Friday Afternoon.

* My dear Gabriel, — We got down comfortably yes-
terday, but then ensued not very short of 3 hours'
lodging seeking 1 However, at last we settled where
you see us to be ; and here we are very comfortable tho*
by no means in the quarter of Eastbourne we aimed

56 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

at, & With a repulsive prospect of having to remove
about August on account of heavy rise of rents. All
this makes it very possible that we may devote part of
this initial week to further researches, in hopes of finding
something more permanently promising than our actual
rooms ; which mi^anwhile are spacious, commodious &
much to our taste. Our mother sends you love, & I
rejoice to say that the extra fatigue of these last few
days she has borne admirably. This morning we were
out, seated very comfortably most of the time, for
not much less than 3 hours, the morning being bright
and neither too hot nor too cold. Eastbourne is
enlarged and altered since my recollection of it. We
have some thoughts of driving over to the Hospital [at
Meads] one day, & seeing whether in that neighbour-
hood we might light upon aught eligible. But unless
you hear from us again, please conclude us to be staying
just where we are.

* Always your affectionate sister,

•Cpiristina G. Rossetti.'

Much of Christina Rossetti's life was devoted to
ministering to her near relations, and once and again,
in the opinion of some of her friends, she showed towards
then) a greater ardour of devotion than was compatible
with her own health, abandoning, for instance, for their
sakes, without a murmur, visits to the country that
otherwise she would have relished greatly. She soothed
her father in his last illness ; she ministered unceasingly
to her brother Gabriel, to her sister Maria, and to
her aunts, the Misses Polidori, the last of whom only
pre-deceased her by eighteen months ; but the chief
ministration of her life was her ministration to her
mother. Anyone who knew her, even after her mother's
death, could not fail to be aware of the sweet influence
that mother had exercised, and still continued to
exercise over her. Mr. Sharp tells touchingly how, at

HER sister's ' SHADOW OF DANTE ' 57

her mother's request, she read to him Southwell's poem

* The Burning Babe/ and, on a subsequent occasion, her
own lines beginning :

Heaven's chimes are slow, but sure to strike at last.

Mr. Sharp says that Christina was in the habit of re-
marking that if Maria Francesca had been her younger
instead of her elder sister she would have become cele-
brated, and that she was prevented from achieving fanie
only by * religious scruples ' and domestic cares. Certainly
it is true that Christina had the very highest opinion of
her sister's gifts, and was never weary of speaking in
their praise. One afternoon, in the last year of her life,
I called upon her. After some conversation on quite
other subjects, she said, with an eagerness unusual to her,
and which surprised me, as I did not then understand it,

* Do you admire and study Dante ? '

I answered that although of course I admired him,
and had some general knowledge concerning him, I
could scarcely describe myself as a student.

* Ah then,' she exclaimed with renewed eagerness,

* I have just the book to help you. Messrs. Longmans
have just issued in their Silver Library a new edition of
my sister's book on Dante. They have just sent me a
copy, and I should be much pleased if you will be kind
enough to accept it'

Whenever Christina Rossetti wished to confer a
favour, her manner of doing so was as if she were about
to ask one.

On my next visit, nothing seemed to give her greater
pleasure than the information that I had read the book
and admired it.

Over and above her deep concern for all that per-

58 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

tained to her sister, she was herself a student of Dantd;

though not in so profound a sense as her father, her

sister, Dante Gabriel, or William. As to this aspect of

her character Mr. Sharp reports a very interesting

utterance :

* I wish [she said] I too could have done something
for Dante in England ! Maria wrote her fine and
helpful book, William's translation of the " Divina
Com media " is the best we have, and Gabriel's " Dante
and his Circle " is a monument of loving labor that will
outlast either. But I, alas, have neither the requisite
knowledge nor the ability.'

Her brother William, however, desires me to mention
at this point that Christina considered the translation of
Dante in Urza rima by Charles Bagot Cayley a *far
more important and satisfactory achievement ' than his.

In * The Century Magazine * for February 1884 she
wrote a study of Dante, calling it ' Dante : The Poet
Illustrated out of the Poem.' It is an essay written in
that quiet manner peculiar to much of her prose : as
far as I am aware, it has not been reprinted. Not
confining herself to the literary aspect of her subject
merely, she dwells at some length on Dante's spiritual
relations with Beatrice Portinari and his earthly relations
with Gemma Donati. An article from her pen on the
same subject, entitled * Dante : an English Classic,'
appeared in the * Churchman's Shilling Magazine * in the
latter part of 1867.

She did not confine the expression of her high
opinion of her sister's * Shadow of Dante ' to conversation
merely. She expressed it in her writings, and some of
these references are so intrinsically worthy of record
that I make no apology for quoting them. In her
commentary on the text —

HER SISTER MARIA 59

And they had a king over them which is the angel
of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew
tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his
name ApoUyon —

(* The Face of the Deep/ p. 264) she writes !

* ** And they had a king over them . . . whose name
... is Abaddon, . . . ApOllyon." — Whether named
King Abaddon or King Apollyon, his English equivalent
is King Destroyer. Whatever we call* him he remains
the same : were we to call him King Preserver it would
modify neither his nature nor his office. Being a
destroyer, our safety lies in recognising, acknowledging,
fleeing him as such. And further: so far as we are
constituted our brother's keeper, our brother's safety
similarly lies in our plainly calling him a destroyer ;
and never toning him down as a negation of good,
or even unloathingly as an archangel ruined ; which
last suggestion I cull from my sister's S/uzdow of
DaniCy where she contrasts Milton's Satan with Dante's
Lucifer.

* " Sins for like reason should be spoken of simply as
what they are, never palliatingly or jocosely. Lies and
drunkenness should bear their own odious appellations,
not any conventional substitute. But some sins " it is a
shame to speak of" : true : so let us not speak of them
except under necessity ; and under necessity even of
them truthfully. " Woe unto them that call evil good,
and good evil ; and put darkness for light, and light
for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter ! " '

And again, in the same book, in reference to the
text—

And the great dragon was cast out, that old ser-
pent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him —

she exclaims somewhat naively :

* Whilst studying the devil I must take heed that my
study become not devilish by reason of sympathy. As

60 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

to gaze down a precipice seems to fascinate the gazer
towards a shattering fall ; so is it spiritually perilous to
gaze on excessive wickedness, lest its immeasurable
scale should fascinate us as if it were colossal without
being monstrous. A quotation from my sister's Shadow
of Dante speaks to the point : —

* " Some there are who, gazing upon Dante's Hell
mainly with their own ^y^s^ are startled by the grotesque
element traceable throughout the Cantica as a whole,
and shocked at the even ludicrous tone of not a few of
its parts. Others seek rather to gaze on Dante's Hell
with Dante's eyes ; these discern in that grotesqueness
a realised horror, in that ludicrousness a sovereign con-
tempt of evil. . . . They remember that the Divine
Eternal Wisdom Himself, the Very and Infallible Truth,
has, nbt once nor twice, characterized impiety and sin as
Folly ; and they feel in the depths of the nature wherewith
He has created them that whatever else Folly may be and
is, it is none the less essentially monstrous and ridiculous.
... A sense of the utter degradation, loathsomeness,
despicableness of the soul which by deadly sin besots
Reason and enslaves Free Will passes from the Poet's
mind into theirs ; while the ghastly definiteness and
adaptation of the punishments enables them to touch
with their finger the awful possibility and actuality of
the Second Death, and thus for themselves as for others
to dread it more really, to deprecate it more intensely,
Dante's Lucifer does appear " less than Archangel
ruined," immeasurably less; for he appears Seraph
wilfully fallen. No illusive splendour is here to dazzle
eye and mind into sympathy with rebellious pride ; no
vagueness to shroud in mist things fearful or things
abominable. Dante's Devils are hateful and hated,
Dante's reprobates loathsome and loathed, despicable
and despised, or at best miserable and commiserated. . . .
Dante is guiltless of seducing any soul of man towards
making or calling Evil his Good." '

And yet once more, in the same work, in allusion to
the text —

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The

HER SISTER MARIA 6 1

seven heads are seven mountains, on which the
woman sitteth (Revelation xvii. 9)—

she says :

* Dante in the DiviNA Commedia {see my sister's A
Shadow of Dante) tells us how he ** dreamed of a woman
stammering, squinting, lame of foot, maimed of hands
and ashy pale. He gazed on her, and lo ! under his
gaze her form straightened, her face flushed, her tongue
loosed to the Siren's song." *

Concerning her sister's conduct when invited to look
at some prints from Blake, she writes in * Time Flies;
under date of April 15, though without giving names of
person or artist :

* I have never forgotten the courageous reverence
with which one to whom a friend was exhibiting prints
from the Book of Job, avowed herself afraid to look at
a representation which went counter to the Second
Commandment, and looked not at it

* A host of us talk " as seeing Him Who is invisible " :
she so acted.

* Blessed she who then set to her seal that God is true,
and since then has '' died in faith." '

There was a vein of strong practical commonsense
in Christina Rossetti, as shown in the entry of * Time
Flies ' appertaining to May 7 : ,

* A lovely young woman (riot then of my acquaintance)
went one evening to a concert, her face swollen and
bound up, observing that she went not to be seen but to
hear. She had, I believe, a methodical brain in that
charming head of hers. Certainly on this occasion she
drew the line accurately between what is and what is
not essential to a listener. Thus, despite her swollen
face, she went with a fair prospect of enjoyment

* Half the mortifications of life (many of them lifelong
mortifications) spring from a confusion in our own minds

62 CHRISTINA KOSSETTI

as to what the particular occasion, connexion, circum-
stance, demands of us. .

* We insist on being attractive, when all that is re-
quired of us is to be attracted, edified, or it may be
merely entertained.*

The young lady referred to here, Miss Rosetta Wood,
was one of her sister's pupils in Italian.

There are several other allusions to her sister in
Christina Rossetti's writings. Evidently these allusions
are all spontaneous, and in truth reveal a beautiful
feature of Christina's character, the passionate fervour
which underlay her usual calm demeanour.

In her remarks in * Time Flies,' under date July 2,
regarding the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin, she
tells us how long ago a * dear speaker ' suggested that
* Righteousness and peace have kissed each other * would
be a suitable passage ' for the Salutation.' The ' dear
speaker ' was her sister Maria. Again, under date of
July 4, which has reference to the exhumation of the
remains of St. Martin, after some wise observations
respecting the usual undesirability of such practices,
she tells us how * one no longer present with us, but to
whom I cease not to look up,' would not enter the
Mummy Room of the British Museum because she
realised how the general Resurrection might happen
even as she looked at * those solemn corpses turned into
a sight for sight-seers.' That * one ' was again her sister
Maria. Still further in ' Time Flies,' under date April 22,
she tells this characteristic anecdote :

* One of the most genuine Christians I ever knew,
once took lightly the dying out of a brief acquaintance
which had engaged her warm heart, on the ground that
such mere tastes and glimpses of congenial intercourse
on earth wait for their development in heaven.

HER SISTER MARIA — MR. JOHN RUSKIN 6^

* Then she knew Whom she trusted : now (please God)
she knows as she is known.

I am permitted to say here that the * brief acquaint-
ance which had engaged ' the * warm heart ' of Maria
Francesca was with Mr. John Ruskin. In the Prefatory
Note of Christina's * Face of the Deep ' she once more
mentions her sister, though not by name :

* A dear saint — I speak under correction of the
Judgment of the Great Day, yet think not then to have
my word corrected — this dear person once pointed out
to me Patience as our lesson in the Book of Revelation.

* Following the clue thus afforded me, I seek and hope
to find Patience in this Book of awful import. Patience,
at the least: and along with that grace whatever
treasures beside God may vouchsafe me. Bearing mean-
while in mind how " to him that knoweth to do good, and
doeth it not, to him it is sin."'

64 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER III
N BIOGRAPHICAL (continued)

(Mainly 1874- 1886)

Kelmscott Manor House— Removal to 30 Torrington Square — Cbeyne Walk
— Bc^or — Hunter's Forestall — Death of her sister Maria — Letters to
her brothers— Walton-on-the-Naze — Mr. Frederic Shields — Discusses
religious problems— Her opinion of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Ade-
laide Procter, and Anne Radcliffe— Autobiographical allusions *Time-
Flies' — Memorial window to Dante Gabriel at Birchington, designed
by Mr. Shields, and correspondence with Mr. Shields about it — Her
suggestions for decoration of chapel at Eaton Hall —Interest in social
questions— C(>rresjx)ndence with Mr. Shields respecting her mother's
last illness and death — Mr. Watts- Dunton on her mother's influence
on Christina, and Christina's influence on her elder brother.

DURIN(; her elder brother's long residence at Kelm-
scott Manor House, beginning in 1871, and continuing
with interruptions until July 1874, Christina was a guest
there, and Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, who was also
a guest, has pointed out a noteworthy contrast between
the brother and sister in the way in which they regarded
Nature. Speaking of Dante Gabriel, he says :

* At Kelmscott, for instance, nothing would make
him more surprised than to see Christina and myself
lingering over a patch of those lovely many-coloured
mosses upon the old apple-trees in the garden, which
look as if embossed with miniature forests in jewel-
work.*

VISITS BOGNOR 65

On Mr. William Michael Rossetti's marriage in March
1874, to Miss Lucy Madox Brown, the Misses Polidori
went to live at 12 Bloomsbury Square, and Christina
and her mother visited them frequently. In October
1876 Christina, her mother, and the Misses Polidori
settled at 30 Torrington Square, though Miss Char-
lotte Polidori, being still companion to the Dowager
Marchioness of Bath, was at first not constantly
there.

Admirers of Mr. Watts-Dunton are looking forward
to his promised volume of reminiscences, in which they
hope he will tell them much about Christina Rossetti
during her sojourns at Cheyne Walk ; at Kelmscott ; at
Bognor ; at Hunter's Forestall, near Heme Bay, in 1877 ;
and at Birchington-on-Sea in the spring of 1882. These
sojourns were chiefly on account of, or because she was
in attendance on, Dante Gabriel. Dante Gabriel spent
the Christmas of 1 875 at Aid wick Lodge, near Bognor,
in the company of his mother, his two aunts, his sister
Christina, Mr. Watts-Dunton, Dr. Gordon Hake, and
the latter's sons, Mr. George Hake, Mr. T. St E. Hake,
and Mr. Henry Hake.

What follows, addressed to Mrs. W. M. Rossetti,
may be quoted because of its allusion to Bognor :

Aid wick Lodge-near-Bognor —
Tuesday 28th. [Dec. 1875.]

* My dear Lucy, — Oddly enough, I have to send back
again to London an " at home '" which came to me this
morning for you ; happily not too late even for the
•earliest evening in question,

* Our party here has been very pleasant. To-day it
breaks up in the main, thd' I suppose our section will not
return to Bloomsbury before Thursday. Please, accept-
ing family loves and best seasonable wishes, let William

F

66 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

also have a share of them ; and tell him that Dr. [Gordon]
Hake appears gratified at the prospect of an Academy
review from his pen, tho' I was not so rash as to announce
one positively.

* As many kisses as will not burden you to Olivia
[at that date her only niece]. Mamma charges me to
hope for her that the poor little arm has recovered from its
vaccination : poor little plump arm, beginning its troubles
so early.

* If Mrs. Bromley is still with you, will you please
offer her my remembrances, I hope your family gather-
ing proved an enjoyable one, but I suppose the Hiiffers
(sic) could not be with you. I wonder if our connexion
has become enlarged since we left Euston Sq.

* Your affectionate sister,

'Christina G. Rossetti.'

•

At this point is introduced' a letter addressed to her
brother Gabriel. All her letters dated from 12 Blooms-
bury Square were written between April 1874 and
September 1876 :

12 Bloomsbury Square — W.C.
Tuesday Afternoon, [September 1874.]

* My dear Gabriel, — Mamma thinks, with her own
dear love to you, that Maria's remarks on the Sacred
Picture may interest you, & will at least show you
how your kind thought is appreciated. To direct your
eye to the passage concerning it and you, I have drawn
an initiatory & a final Aand ; which will show you how
great has been my profiting by early art-lessons from
great Masters. But of course the whole letter is open
to you.

' Please observe my address. Mamma and I are
paying a visit here to my Aunts, & it strikes Mamma
that we 4 should enjoy paying a visit to you at Chelsea,
if there were any morning when without trenching on
your business engagements you could devote an hour
to us. If then you can lay finger on such an hour any
day for a fortnight or so to come, please notify it to us :
of course Aunt Charlotte's stays in Bloomsbury are

LETTER TO OLIVER MADOX BROWN 67

never very long, & the duration of this present one is
uncertain.

* Lucy has made steady progress, though still she is
somewhat invalided : To-day Mamma & Aunt Char-
lotte called in Euston Square, & found it so. The
distance deters me from making a call, but I saw Lucy
as lately as yesterday before coming here.

* Your affec. sister
* Aunt Charlotte's love to you.'

In 1874 Christina Rossetti wrote thus to Oliver
Madox Brown, the * too-lifelike albatross ' being an
allusion possibly to a sketch of his inspired by Coleridge's
• Ancient Mariner ' :

12 Bloomsbury Square— W.C.
Wednesday.

* My dear Nolly, — I have the pleasure of redeeming
my promise, & offering you my 'first essay in mitten
making. I fear my crimson is not crimson enough : yet
pray do not reject it from sometimes warming the hand
which harrowed me up by a certain too-lifelike
albatross.

* With cordial remembrances to Mr. & Mrs. Madox
Brown

' Very sincerely yours '

The letters to Dante Gabriel that follow immediately
belong to 1875, o-' possibly 1876.

56 Kuston Square — N.W.
Friday 29 [1876.]

* My dear Gabriel, — Let me renew my thanks for the
poor dear " Elephant " book, whose pathetic ending is
truly painful and goes to one's heart Delicious is the
prosperous Elephant ladling out rice to mendicants : I
wish all Elephants were prosperous,

* A few days ago I saw Mme. Bodichon, who sends a
cordial message of remembrance to you, and would like
some afternoon to pay your studio a visit " between lights "
— so very likely she will do so. What a fine looking per-
sonage she is. She let me look at a number of her

F 2

"68 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

paintings, too, which make up quite an interesting gallery,
from Algiers, Sussex, &c.

* I saw Mr. [Madox] Brown's Sheffield portrait the
other day. He is invariably cordial and kindly — the
man, I mean, not the canvas — and even now it might
be the sitter ! ! '

$6 Euston Square — N.W.
Thursday morning.

[Probably written in 1875 O' 1876.]

* Dear old Gabriel, — Mamma is so impressed with the
beauty of to-day for you as a long working day, & all
is so doubtful as to the hour at which we may leave the
[Bell] Scotts, that with her very best love she announces
that we will not have the pleasure of visiting you &
your studio this afternoon ; but will look forward in a
general way to the same indulgence on some future
occasion.

* Have you ever noticed the large modem clematis in
blossom ? Mamma and 1 saw a house full of it at the
Botanic Gardens the other day, & I really think it
must be a flower adapted to pictorial purposes. The
eld-fashioned garden clematis — tho' indeed these new
ones also profess to be all hardy, — beautiful as it is, is
beautiful in really quite a different style.

* Affectionately your sister '

[Written about 1876, or perhaps later.]

* My dear Gabriel, — My spirits rose like quicksilver
at the news in your letter.

* Since we spoke together of Fiammetta's bower I
have recollected clematis, not a tree certainly but a
climber attaining any height you please. The old-
fashioned clematis was so far as I know limited in
blossom to purple or white ; but nowadays you see it
with much larger flowers, and these of many tints, deep
and pale, of lilac and rose colour ; besides of course
white. The Xmas Rose in number and arrangement of
petals, as well as in their shape and in the central tuft
of the blossom, does strongly assimilate with many a
modem clematis. The foliage, however, is very different
I just tell you this in case it may suggest anything. I

LETTER TO DANTE GABRIEL 69

think, but I cannot remember with certainty, that I may
have seen the clematis house in the Botanical Gardens
in full bloom as early as about Easter.

' Always your affec. sister '

* If you like to lay in a bottle of dye^ I will try my
hand on toning your slippers on Boxing-day morning ;
if» as I expect, Mamma and I dine & sleep at your
house the night before. Or why not try sending to a
dyer's ? '

30 Torrington Sq.— W.C.
Wednesday,

' My dear Gabriel, — The grouse have proved eatable,
and this is proved by their having been eaten. Our
mother's love to you in commemoration of the event, and
mine after the same exceptional feast. So never hope
to see those birds again !

* Some of the London directories have " Rossetti " — : I
did not know the Post Office D. was a defaulter. /,
however individually do not figure in such prominent
pages, but consider myself sufficiently represented by
the insertion of Mamma. I do not want to notify to all
whom it may and whom it may not concern my private
and personal habitat.

* Affectionately yours

'Christina G. Rossettl'

The next letter, written in 1875. or 1876 to Mrs. W,
M. Rossetti, has reference to a domestic difficulty. * Mc
Cayley ' is Charles Bagot Cay ley :

56 Euston Square — N.W.
Wednesday morning.

* My dear Lucy, — Thank you for your note of news,
— yet not literally of news — as William had already
written. Mamma and I feel sufficiently at ease in our
hermitage not to care to vacate it : you, with a baby, arc
quite differently situated from our sober selves. I hope
the Board of Works will act as becomes it ; tho', so
common is scarlet fever, that I am not inclined to con-
nect this particular instance of it with the condition of

70 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

the enclosure. I hope the poor invalid next door, which-
ever of the family it may be, will do well.

* Pray remember us both very cordially to Mr. &
Mrs. Madox Brown, giving our loves to William. Mr.
Cayley owes you thanks for the prospectus of "confer-
ences," & thinks to pay them through me : permit us ! *

From a marginal note in her own handwriting in a
copy of * Time Flies,' now in the possession of her
younger brother, it appears that the incident described
in the following passage occurred at Eastbourne :

* I remember rising early once to see the sun rise.

* I rose too early, and waited wearily and impatiently.

* At length the sun rose.

* At length ? Scarcely. The sun kept time, though
I kept it not : the sun lagged not because I hurried.'

This somewhat bald and matter-of-fact way of allud-
ing to so interesting a phenomenon has no doubt been
occasionally disappointing to those who remember her
loving eye for Nature. They will observe, however, the
central idea in her mind here is that * the sun kept time,
though I kept it not,* applied as an emblem of the second
coming of Christ. Possibly, also, she would have
devoted more attention to the physical aspects of the
sunrise had it not been in all likelihood a disappointing
one, such a one, for instance, as when the sun mounts
above the horizon in a colourless watery haze. A
correspondent, in a letter to * The Daily News * that
appeared shortly after her death, narrates how Christina
told her once (at a period later than this visit to East-
bourne) that she (Christina) had never seen a sunrise —
by which she of course meant a sunrise rich in the
'tasselled hangings of the clouds' such as a poet thinks
of almost involuntarily, whenever the word * sunrise' is

HUNTERS FORESTAJ.L 71

mentioned. Such a sunrise she saw afterwards at
Hunter's Forestall in the company of Mr* Theodore
VVatts-Dunton, to whom she also had said that she had
never seen a sunrise. In his usual concise and original
manner Mr. Watts-Dunton described what happened in
* The Nineteenth Century* of February 1895.

* I believe that it [a sunrise] is a phenomenon not
commonly observed by poets, and that is why it so
commonly occurs that a poet's description of the cloUd-
pageantry of a sunrise is evidently borrowed from his
recollection of the sunsets he has seen. No doubt, as I
said to Christina, the two are alike in many ways, and
yet in many ways they are extremely different.

* Upon a certain occasion she made up her mind that
a sunrise she would see, and one morning we went out
just as the chilly but bewitching shiver of the dawn-
breeze began to move, and the eastern sky began slowly
to grow grey.

* Early as it was, however, many of the birds were
awake, and waiting to see what we went out to see, as
we knew by twitter after twitter coming from the
hedgerows. Christina was not much interested at first,
but when the grey became slowly changed into a kind
of apple-green crossed by bars of lilac, and then by
bars of pink and gold, and, finally, when the sun rose
behind a tall clump of slender elms so close together
that they looked like one enormous tree, whose
foliage was sufficiently thin to allow the sunbeams to
pour through it as through a glittering lacework of
dewy leaves, she confessed that no sunset could sur-
pass it.

' And when the sun, growing brighter still, and falling
upon a silver sheet of mist in which the cows were
lying, turned it into a sheet of gold, and made each
brown patch on each cow's coat gleam like burnished
copper, then she admitted that a sunrise surpassed a
sunset, and was worth getting up to see. She stood
and looked at it, and her lips moved, but in a whisper
that I could not hear.'

72 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

The most touching of all Christina s references to her
sister is to be found in * Time Flies' under date Novem-
ber 7. Maria Francesca had expressed an aversion to
the old style of funeral, with its rigid ceremonial and
its paraphernalia of grief, and had said in answer to
some plea of Christina's in favour of it, 'Why make
everything as hopeless looking as possible ? *

* And at that moment which was sad only for us who-
lost her, all turned out in harmony with her holy hope
and joy.

* Flowers covered her, loving mourners followed her,,
hymns were sung at her grave, the November day
brightened, and the sun (I vividly remember) made a
miniature rainbow in my eyelashes.

' I have often thought of that rainbow since.'

Maria Francesca was interred in Brompton Cemetery
in November 1876, according to the simple rules of the
sisterhood of which she was a member.

Here may be given some letters addressed to her
brother Gabriel from Torringtbn Square. The *^John
Gilpin ' referred to in the succeeding letter was illus-
trated by the late R. Caldecott-

January i, 1879.

* My dear Gabriel, — This is my first letter this year
and carries you our dearest mother's and my own love
and very best wishes for your health and prosperity.
We hope — we so wish to hear — that your throat and
cough are better.

* I am indulging in sending you the " John Gilpin '"
we talked about. I hope you will not despise our taste^
but we are quite amused by it. The expressions are
surely consummate in some of the faces. Aunt
Charlotte sends you her love. She came up yesterday,
but we fear we shall keep her for only a week. Yesterday
also William, going out for the first time, came here —

JAMES ASHCROFT NOBLE 73

looking quite as well as can be expected, but of course
pulled down. He was in one large gouty shoe, and was
still taking colchicum

* Always your loving sister *

The * critic ' referred to in what follows was the late
Ashcroft Noble, and the probable date of the letter was
1879.

30 Torrington Square— W.C.
Saturday.

* My dear Gabriel, — I take it most kindly of you that
among other interesting matter you put forward to my
critic what you conceive to be my claim on name and
fame.

* What an interesting and intelligent letter his is : I
will, as you suggest, keep it till we meet. But before
it came mamma and I were already planning a visit to
you next week, yourself and all else permitting. Shall
it be next Tuesday towards 3 o'clock as usual ? If we
do not hear from you, we will conclude Tuesday ; but
if your afternoon is then preoccupied, please propose a
different day; Thursday would suit us just as well.
Our Mother's love, as ever *

The * sealskin which warms her heart as well as her
person,' a phrase in the letter that succeeds, alludes to
a present given by Dante Gabriel to his mother. Signor
Maenza * and his wife an Englishwoman ' — old friends of
the Rossetti family — had Dante Gabriel as their paying
guest for his health's sake twice during his boyhood, at
Boulogne-sur-Mer, where they resided : ^

Thursday morning.
[Probably written in 1879.]

' My dear Gabriel, — We are quite grieved to hear of
your continuing ill and weak, and fear that the many
dark days we have had of late must have tried you in
more ways than one ; but we are glad to hear of friends
who chase away loneliness.

* Se€ Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Family Letters ^ vol. ii. p. 19.

74 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Our mother, with one of her three best loves, quite
deprecates the idea of your coming round to see her
during the conjunction of such health with such weather.
She, however, ensconced in that seaNskin which warms
her heart as well as her person, is not afraid to look
forward to dining with you on Xmas Day. Our plan is
as follows. We shall be four in number, both Aunts
included. After Church, we have promised, all of us,
to lunch with William and his party, at what I believe
is to be their early dinner. About 5 o'clock we will be
taken up there by our own fly, and go straight on to
you ; thus reaching you, we trust, early enough for a
good chat before dinner. The only moot point is, — shall
Mamma and I, as you kindly proposed, accept a bed at
your house ? She inclines to think that as we shall be
4 old ladies in a safe fly with a responsible driver, we
had better all go home in a clump: but if you like
better to say " Good morning" to her next day instead
of " Good night " the same evening, then she and I will
profit by your hospitality. Not hearing from you
again, we will settle to go home in a fly.

'Mamma is delighted with the "Maenza" letter, and
as you do not want it back, means herself to preserve it.
Its special value to her is its tribute to you.

* Looking forward to our pleasant Xmas party,
always '

Concerning * the " Maenza " letter ' her brother has
written to me as follows :

* Mrs. Maenza survived her husband several years —
When she died she bequeathed her small funds (say ;^ioo)
to Gab[riel], who had been the main support of herself,
also her husband, for some 15 years — The letter was,
I think, written by herself not long before death, or
possibly the letter announcing her death, &c.'

The work of Mr. William Davies, author of * Songs
of a Wayfarer,' whose etching is referred to in the suc-
ceeding letter, was much admired by Dante Gabriel and
Christina :

WILLIAM DAVIES — WALTON-ON-THE-NAZE 75

30 Torrington Square, W.C.
Tuesday Evening. [Probably 1879.}

' My dear Gabriel, — Mamma is delighted at the
lovingness of your thought for her and for us all, but on
the whole we agree in thinking it wise to wend our way
home the same night : weather might play us false the
next day, if we became as dilatory as my " Prince " in
his " progress." —

* AH our loves to you. Aunt Charlotte highly values
the welcome you extend to her, and reciprocates to the
full its goodwill and affection.

* I have just received an etching by " William Davies,"
endorsed as sent me by your suggestion. I like it very
much, and when I have seen you perhaps you will tell
me of some address — none accompanies it — whereto I
may thankfully acknowledge it.'

Under dates of October 20 and 21 in * Time
Flies ' she relates, and moralises upon, another * parable
of nature,' though without stating that the circumstance
upon which it is founded came under her notice at
Walton-on-the-Naze about 1880:

* Once at the seaside I recollect noticing for some
time a row of swallows perched side by side along a
telegfraph wire. There they sat steadily. After a
while, when some one looked again, they were gone.

*This happened so late in the year as to suggest that
the birds had mustered for migration and then had
started.

* The sight was quaint, comfortable looking, pretty.
The small creatures seemed so fit and so ready to
launch out on their pathless journey: contented to
wait, contented to start, at peace and fearless.

* Altogether they formed an apt emblem of souls
willing to stay, willing to depart.

• •••*••

* That combination of swallows with telegraph wire
sets in vivid contrast before our mental eye the sort of
evidence we put confidence in and the sort of evidence
we mistrust.

76 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* The telegraph conveys messages from man to man.

* The swallows by dint of analogy, of suggestion, of
parallel experience, if I may call it so, convey messages
from the Creator to the human creature.

* We act eagerly, instantly, on telegrams. Who
would dream of stopping to question their genuineness ?

* Who, watching us, could suppose that the senders
of telegrams are fallible ; and that the Only Sender of
Providential messages is infallible ? *

Here may be quoted two letters having reference
to Walton-on-the-Naze :

30 Torrington Square — VV.C.
Wednesday evening.

* My dear Gabriel, — My post-card CROSSED your first
letter ; otherwise I could not excuse myself for not
having answered you. Dear Mamma and the rest of
us got home perfectly successfully on Monday night
She is grieved and I am vexed that you should have
taken kind and useless trouble for us, troubling, more-
over, a friend : but it was only this morning that a letter
from Muntham arrived, setting Aunt Charlotte free (at
least for a few days) from the likelihood of any
immediate recall, and at the same time showing us that
it beseemed us to make haste out of town and waste not
a day if she wished — as she does wish — to accompany us.
This combination of her convenience with ours it was
which led to our sudden resolve ; and t/ien I did not lose
an hour in writing to let you know : still, the result has
been annoying to you, and I truly am sorry. Mamma
sends you a dear love. We have fixed upon Walton-
on-Naze not from any decided preference, but at any
rate it does not face the baking south, and it is nearer
than most of the east coast watering-places. I suppose
we are very likely to be away for a month ; and I count
on letting you have our address when we have one, all
favoring/

LETTERS TO DANTE GABRIEL 77

2 Lombardian Place Walton-on-the-Naze.
14th August.

*My dear Gabriel, — We have reconsidered and I
liope bettered our plans, and are staying on here: a
little more prudence on my part may I dare say check
neuralgia, etc., and at the worst these are very bearable.
Our dearest Mother seems fairly suited by this air : and
such being the case, Walton becomes highly desirable
as she is often upset and oppressed by the seaside. I
don't know that we any of us dislike the surroundings ;
I, certainly, do not. Aunt Charlotte is not yet recalled,
but from day to day I fear the letter may arrive to
deprive us of her company : meanwhile we wage nightly
rubbers, and I think repeated practice has somewhat
improved my play.

' Mamma's love to you.

* Walton seems a fairly agreeable place and has a fine
open sea. We have not yet taken any drives. There
are 2: piers, and I dare say there may be good pickings
on the shore for any one with available legs.'

30 Torrington Square — W.C.
Monday Evening. [Written about 1880.]

* My dear Gabriel, — Thank you for two kind little
letters come to hand, in the course of to day.

* Aunt Charlotte also has just come to hand, — and she,
and Aunt Eliza, and, most of all, our Mother renew the
expression of their love to you, and assure you (I, too, of
course) that this propitious change of weather makes us
hope and trust to be with you without fail in the course
of Xmas afternoon. We shall be quite disappointed if our
plan fails. But on no account will we trouble you to pro-
vide us with a vehicle : we will engage one from the livery
stables close by, which will take us to and fro quite
comfortably, as it did last year ; every now and then
we hire a highly satisfactory " trap " thence. Mamma,
noticing the thoughtfulness of your offer, yet cannot wish
to accept it.

* Thanks for unfailing brotherliness negociating be-
tween Mr. Watts[-Dunton] and me. And truly grateful
am I to him, whether or not any act ensues ; the
friendly goodwill commands my thanks in either case

78 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

I do Sincerely hope to soar above the level of THAT
despised poem, — if ever I can scrape a fresh volume
together : and at present I am very hopeful of so doing
at no very distant date.

'Very affectionately, your sister

* Christina G. Rossetti.

*So now observe, please, that we shall not write
again, except in the deprecated contingency of being
unable to come.'

The ' friendly goodwill ' and * THAT despised poem * in
the preceding letter refer to an incident well told in the
same vivid essay by Mr. Watts-Dunton in * The Athe-
naeum,' to which allusion has already been made.

*On one occasion,' he says, . . . 'she expressed a
wish to have some of her verses printed in the " Athe-
naeum," and I suggested her sending them to 16 Cheyne
Walk, her brother's house, where I then used to spend
much time in a study that I occupied there. I said
that her brother and I would read them together, and
submit them to the editor. She sent several poems (I
think about six), not one of which was in the least
degree worthy of her. This naturally embarrassed me,
but Gabriel, who entirely shared my opinion of the poems,
wrote at once to her, and told her that the verses sent
were, both in his own judgment and mine, unworthy of
her, and that she " had better buckle to at once and
write another poem." She did so, and the result was
an exquisite lyric which appeared in the " Athenaeum." *

Tuesday Morning.

* My dear Gabriel, — It seems doubtful whether the
roads will be passable to-morrow, because of slipperiness :
Aunt Charlotte writes that she cannot come up from
Muntham, because of this. Of course London roads
are less formidable than country d**, but our Mother
desires me to write to-day, in case we find it too haz-
ardous to start for Chelsea to-morrow. Her dearest
love to you, and warmest seasonable wishes ; and mine
with them. She is so sorry not to be with you on

LETTERS TO DANTE GABRIEL 79

Xmas Day, that I still will not despair ; yet I fear
it will be unmanageable. As you see, Aunt Charlotte
is now out of the question ; and Aunt Eliza of course
will do as we do.'

Friday Night.

* My dear Gabriel, — Aunt Charlotte, with love, anti-
cipates the pleasure of seeing you and your * Pia,* and
hopes that when we write actually to propose an after-
noon (which I hope will be early next week) we may
secure a milder moment, — I say we because I hope to
accompany her. At the worst, however, we can face a
fair amount of cold, for this day we were cabbing and
shopping about together for just 3 hours !

'Your grand Sonnet, — our Mother to whom (tho*
not to me) the incident was new, is delighted • with it.
She sends you her love, and I was able to cheer her up
a little after my glimpse of you yesterday. Aunt Eliza,
too, returns love.

' As to " Buonarruot/ " ^ surely the play upon words is
obvious despite the vanished gender.'

' Pia ' in the previous letter means Dante Gabriel's
oil-painting * La Pia ' from Dante's * Purgatorio ' ; while
Mr. William Rossetti informs me that the * grand sonnet '
refers to Dante Gabriel's

* " Tiber, Nile and Thames " : the incident being that of
Fulvia, who ran her needle through the tongue of the
truncated head of Cicero — C[hristina]'s [letter] w** thus be
an answer to the one from G[abriel] which was printed
in my volume [Dante Gabriel Rossetti : His Family
Letters, with a Memoir], vol. ii. p. 367.'

Thursday.

* My dear Gabriel, — Your letter received this morning
relieves our Mother immensely (her own word) and me

* The reference to *Buonarruoti' alludes to Dante Gabriel's use of it
in Sonnet 94 in • The House of Life,' concerning which Mr. William
Rossetti has a learned note at p. 254 of his * Dante Gabriel Rossetti as
Designer and Writer.' As to the matter he has also written to me :

' The particular point raised by C[hristina] is that ruottf shows the_^w/-
nine plural termination, whereas Buonarruot/ shows the masculine plural
termination.

8o CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

in proportion. I trust nothing very bad can accrue
from so good a friend.

' Perhaps while Winter is in its depth the best chance
for getting a sight of you and " la Pia " will be for my
independent self to take my chance of finding you at
leisure any afternoon when weather and all other
influences favour my starting. At the worst — and that
will be by no means bad ! I can combine a visit to
Mrs. [Bell] Scott with my own visitation of you : and
as Scotus has been ill, my so doing would be obviously
neat and appropriate.'

* I fear to dwell upon your brightening business
horizon, lest gloom should return ; but meanwhile am
thankful — I am glad you have had another fine Sonnet
in the " Athenaeum " : " poets' comer " is desirable in my
eyes, not cloyed by success quite (!) to the degree of
yours.'

The other * fine sonnet in the " Athenaeum " * refers
to Dante Gabriel's * The Holy Family ' (by Michael-
angelo, in the National Gallery) beginning * Turn not
the prophet's page, O Son ! He knew,' which originally
appeared in that journal for January i, 1881.

The ensuing brief note may be quoted as showing
Dante Gabriel's affectionate interest in his mother's
health :

Wednesday.

* My dear Gabriel, — I can thoroughly reassure you.
Our dearest Mother is extremely well, and keeps indoors
without variation : she has not stirred out since te/ore
the day I saw you last week. Indeed she does on the
whole keep very fairly warm, despite cold which even
keeps hardy Aunt Charlotte indoors day after day.
She sends you a dear love, and my Aunts join with
her. I really begin to fear this overwhelming cold will
prevent Aunt Charlotte getting to your studio, when I
meant to accompany her : however, I won't despair
yet'

SIGNOR GAMBERALE 8 1

The letters ensuing were written from London or from
Sevenoaks in the late summer or autumn of 1 88 1. Signor
Gamberale, mentioned in the first of these, published in
Italy in the same year a volume entitled * Poeti Inglesi
e Tedeschi moderni o contemporanei,* which contains
Italian translations from poems both by Dante Gabriel
and by Christina. The * Cumberland plan,* alluded to
in the first letter, relates to Dante Gabriers visit to
Fisher Place, near Keswick. * Mr. Caine's book ' refers
to Mr. Hall Caine's * Sonnets of Three Centuries.' Her
' Pageant and other Poems ' appeared about August of
the same year.

Thursday.

* My dear Gabriel, — Thank you for a helpful feeler
put out in the direction of Felixstowe. But two things
(alas !) prevent our profiting thereby. First, our Mother
very wisely has contracted her radius, and now seeks
places not remote from London, thus avoiding the
exhaustion of long journeys. Secondly, as we are
making a sociable family party this year, we must
avoid the glaring seaside on account of poor Aunt
Eliza's eyes. The green refreshing country promises to
suit us all, and this morning a friend has sent us an
address at Tunbridge Wells, to which I am about to
write. We still hope to get away on Saturday.

* Signor Gamberale's letter is interesting: I recollect the
fact of your " Last Confession " being translated, tho' the
translator's name had escaped me. I wonder which of
my books he has got. I wonder also if you and William
will condescend to his (somewhat costly perhaps) request
for books : if so, I think I must emulate you with at
least some one of mine ; and in any case Aunt Charlotte
will bestow upon him a copy of dear Maria's " Shadow
of Dante." But of course I shall make no move yet
awhile in his direction. I re-enclose his letter, and am
curious to see myself in travestie.

* Our Mother rejoices, and so do I, in the hope that
you will carry out your Cumberland plan ; for it sounds

82 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

pleasant and promising. Is Mr. [Hall] Caine's book
out yet, I wonder. Mine [" A Pageant and other
Poems "] was printed long ago — at least, the final sheets
passed thro' my hands, and in this month's " Macmillan "
it was announced " immediately," and still I see and hear
nothing of it. Your two, I suppose, by what William
says, are wisely waiting for October : and mine perhaps
may be doing the same, tho' I fancied it might have
been issued ere this.

* With a dear love from a most dear Mother,

* Your affectionate

'Christina G. Rossettl'

The letter which follows was written in September
1 88 1. Under date of September 4 of that year Dante
Gabriel, in the course of a letter to his mother (see his
'Life and Family Letters,* by his brother, vol. li. p.
385), says :

* I wish C[hristina] would write me a line in answer
to this Tnot taxing yourself), and say how she liked
[Mr. Hall] Caine's little notice [of ** A Pageant and
other Poems "] in " The Academy." '

Here is Christina's answer :

* My dear Gabriel, — Our Mother has been enjoying
the article which you lent me, which I return, and
which, to own the truth, I have copied out at full length !
She sends you a dear love, and is very grieved at your
weak and suffering state, and with me looks forward to
coming to see you next Tuesday. I am glad to have
met Mr. Watts [-Dunton] again, and to have made
acquaintance with Mr. [Hall] Caine.

* Affectionately your

* Christina G. Rossettl'

In a postscript to a letter written about this date, she
speaks thus concerning Dante Gabriel's sonnet * Raleigh ' :

* " Raleigh " is indeed fine, and its end a grand
climax.'

SEVENOAKS 83

Friday Night.

' My dear Gabriel, — After all I stopped short at
Sevenoaks instead of reaching Tunbridge Wells. And
at Sevenoaks I have secured what promise to be charm-
ing lodgings (Fayremead) whither we trust to betake
ourselves to-morrow.

* Mamma's love and Aunt C*s, by

* Your tired sister,

* C. G. R.'

Fayremead — Sevenoaks.
Friday Evening.

[Written in 1881.]

* My dear Gabriel, — I dropped in at the agents* this
morning ; and this afternoon all except myself (for I had
a headache) drove to Seal, a village (say) i^ or 2 miles
out of Sevenoaks, to inspect the following small house.

* It stands in its own grounds, with garden back and
front Has 3 sitting-rooms, that is, a dining-room,
drawing-room, small extra room. 4 bed rooms (2
large, 2 small) besides servant's room at top of house.
Rent ;f2 15 o per week ; but will be vacant not till 2nd
September, from which date it can be had for any term
proposed. It is of course furnished, but no servant
remains : lodgers must provide their own. As I say, it
is detached : but next to it (tho* separate) is the Vicar-
age : and this cottage belongs to the Vicar. Within 5
or 10 minutes is Wilderness Park, a fine looking place
either for driving or walking, and open to the public.
The water, by the bye, is good, but there is a filter to
boot! The garden is rather picturesque and wildish,
full of greenery, has walks and three grassy steps, and is
of a good size. ... If any question further seems to
you worth asking, the agents' address is Messrs. Cronks,
Sevenoaks.

* Perhaps we may hear of something else promising,
& I will be on the alert'

What follows refers to Dante Gabriel's project of
leaving i6 Cheyne Walk permanently :

G 2

84 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

' My dear Gabriel, — Getting home, we found our old
friend Henrietta Rintoul waiting for us ; and she
mentioned in the course of chat that Mr. Topham's
(the artist's) house is she believes now to let, a house
in a part of Hampstead with a capital look-out towards
Cricklewood, if she is not mistaken.

* [I lose not a] moment in letting you know the little I
know, on the bare chance of its availing/

* Francesca* in the succeeding letter refers to a transla-
tion by Christina's elder brother of a well-known passage
in Dante, and * elder ' and * modem ' allude to Amelia B.
Edwards's two volumes of poetic selections, the first of
* elder ' the second of ' modem ' poets.

30 Torrington Square — ^W.C.
Saturday.

' My dear Gabriel, — Our Mother sends you her love,,
and announces that some of the best news she could
have received is of improvement in your health.
DM.

* She has enjoyed reading in 2 following " Athenaeums "
your nice letter of contradiction, & your fine " Francesca,"
and has bought both. We only heard of them by a side
chance.

• • • ...

* Mamma suffered from a similar attack [of influenza],
but rallied much more rapidly, and is now fairly her
dear self again. I cough wofully, but I dare say there
is no great point amiss ; and am taking a mixture of Sir
W[illiam] J[enner]'s.

* Thank you for writing to Miss Edwards.* Mamma
was so disturbed at the misstatement that I wrote ta
correct it ; but I am very glad Miss E. should receive
collateral evidence, and should be aware that my family
noticed the point.

* My comfort in the business is, that the error is so
broad I think it will in a measure neutralise itself.

* In A Poetry-Book of Modern Poets^ edited by Amelia B. Edwards^
published in 1879, Christina Rossetti is described as born in 1S16.

MR. FREDERIC SHIELDS 85

* I have scarcely as yet glanced at the " elder " and
** modern " volume, but I understand from Mamma that
both are good.'

Soon after the publication of her ' Pageant and
other Poems/ she writes to her brother Gabriel :

* I trust Mr. Watts [-Dunton] received his own
" Pageant " so know not why he confiscated yours !
There seems (I am sorry to say) to have been some
hobble at the " Saturday Review " office, tho' a copy was
sent in due course : now, I fear, they will not notice me,
and at any rate Mr. Gosse is off for a holiday and
cannot " do " me. But I am not going to worry myself
over this trifle, tho* I should like it to have happened
otherwise. I rather wince in prospect of Mr. Watts
[-Dunton] and Mr. [Hall] Caine.

' Mamma's dear love to you.

* I have been reviewed in the " Tablet," fair average,
— and more favourably in the " St. James's Gazette." '

Mr. Shields was one of the small band of those who,
together with Dante Gabriel's * friend of friends,' Mr.
Watts-Dunton, ministered to Dante Gabriel during his
closing year of life. In this connection a Christmas
letter from Christina written from London becomes
deeply interesting. The * medical man ' was Mr. Henry
Maudsley :

December 16, 1881.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — Your letter comes like balm.
My dearest Mother thanks you with a warm heart, and
so do I, for the hope you help us to keep up. I need
not dwell on our grief and anxiety on poor Gabriel's
account ; yet with you I do hope that under the absolute
authority of a medical man he may yet be weaned from
that fatal chloral, and that even now much which has
been lost may be retrieved. You and Mr. Watts
[-Dunton], and every unwearied friend who is kind to
him now, earn our deepest gratitude.

86 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Let me wish you and Mrs. Shields a bright and
blessed Christmas, a wish my Mother most truly unites
in.

* Always gratefully yours/

Christina handles two of the deepest problems of
religion — that of predestination and free will — in * Time
Flies ' under date January 31, where she says :

' A friend once put it to me that the choice of each
man's free will must be unknown beforehand even to
God Omniscient Himself To foreknow would involve
to preordain, and that which is ordained is not free : — so,
I suppose, my friend might have gone on to argue,
handling a myster>^ far beyond my comprehension.

• ••••••

* Limited Omniscience is a contradiction in terms. A
being any one of whose attributes is limited, cannot be
our Infinite Lord God.*

The friend mentioned above was the Rev. W. Garrett
Horder, well known as the editor of * The Poets' Bible,*
* an attempt to set forth the great scenes and characters
of Holy Scripture in the words of the Poets.* To this
work Christina Rossetti contributed several poems. Mr.
Horder has been good enough to place at my disposal
correspondence, dated from London, from which extracts
shall be made. The first letter, in answer to inquiries
made by Mr. Horder, expresses some opinions respect-
ing other poets, and contains also one of her rare flashes
of self-criticism :

July II, 1881.

'Dear Sir, — Thank you for all the interesting in-
formation you are so good as to afford me. I have
admired fine work by Canon Dixon ere now, tho' I
have not the advantage of being acquainted with him.
But another of your contributors I do know — Dr. Little-
dale : not to speak of my own brother !

* If any of my own pieces could find place in your

THE REV. W. GARRETT HORDER 87

proposed volume, they would be quite at your service.
But they are so prevalently in a subjective vein that
I fear they may not repay you for a sifting of the
collected edition. The fresh volume announced just
now by Messrs. Macmillan will (I conjecture) be open
to the same objection. Do you happen to recall a poem
by Carrington on the Nativity ? He, I suppose, may be a
poet not universally known ; and even I tho' with a vivid
certainty of my early admiration of the piece in question,
cannot at this much later day feel sure whether my
judgment was then correct. Yet I venture to name the
poem to you. Another, presumably not widely known,
occurs to my memory — a blank verse poem of some
length on the " sorrowful mysteries " of our Lord's life,
written by James Collinson, an artist not long deceased,
and published in a now rare Magazine entitled " The
Germ," about the year 1849. "The Germ" lived only
through 4 nos., and in the course of its brief career
changed its name to " Art and Poetry " — but I think it
was " The Germ " when the poem I speak of appeared
in it

* If any other poem should occur to me as worth
naming I will count on your permission to write to you
again. Could I help forward a good work I would
gladly see you or hear from you again, — I should be
fortunate in so doing.

* Very sincerely yours,

* Yet I think there mav be one or two of mine which
might perhaps accord with your scheme, for instance
one called " By the Waters of Babylon " — Oddly enough
I do not possess a copy of the volume which contains
it, or I should feel tempted to count on your leave to
lend it you.'

In the following year Mr. Horder was writing a
volume entitled * Intimations of Immortality,' and
wrote to her requesting permission to use her sonnets
beginning

The Wise do send their hearts before them to
and

88 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

If I could trust mine own self with your fate,

demurring, however, to the line

Whose knowledge foreknew every plan we planned

in the latter sonnet, as * indicating such a fore-know-
ledge that no space was left for the action of the human
will.* To this she replies :

July 29. 1882.

* Dear Mr. Horder, — I am very glad if you can
utilise " The Wise do send. ..." I heartily wish I could
answer quite the same as to " If I could trust. . ." — but
here you have already (have you not ?) felt that con-
victions and principles are involved — I cannot unsay
what I hold to be absolutely true, even if originally I
might have expressed myself better. And if one of the
illogical sex may without offence argue with one of the
logical, I would venture to illustrate my point by
observing that my prescience that you will take all
kindly does not compel you so to do ! '

Apropos of Mr. Horder*s demur she wrote the
remarks in * Time Flies.' On its publication she sent
him a copy of the book, and, in answer to a letter of
thanks, wrote to him :

May 20. 1885.

' Dear Mr. Horder, — I have no doubt we differ on
some points, but I rejoice over those points on which we
agree. Thank you for kind words about my new little
book. Be sure that not one of my readers would be
more genuinely pleased than myself if I could always
write poems !

* But just because poetry is a gift, I scarcely dare to
follow your allusion to prophets in company with poets
— I am not surprised to find myself unable to summon
it at will and use it according to my own choice.'

Early in 1882 Mr. John H. Ingram was projecting
his * Eminent Women Series,* and was desirous that
Christina Rossetti should undertake one of the volumes.

MR. JOHN H. INGRAM 89

After he had broached the subject to her younger brother,
the latter spoke to his sister on the subject. From
Birchington (where she was in attendance on Dante
Gabriel during his last illness) Christina commenced a
somewhat lengthy correspondence with Mr. Ingram,
from which, by Mr. Ingram's permission, some extracts
are made :

* My absence from London puts me out of the way
of books of reference such as of course would be
essential to any practical attempt to ascertain whether
I could meet your requirements : could I do so it would
be of advantage and satisfaction to myself, and the £^0
you mention (I fully understand without pledging your-
self to any defined sum) would I anticipate fully repay
me. One point in which, I fear, I should conspicuously
fall short of your wishes is as to rapid production of a
life ; I am but a slow worker, and could not prefix a
time for sending in ; this premised, it might (might it
not ?) suit us both better if instead of one of the earlier
lives of the series being assigned to me one of the later
should be selected. You propose Adelaide Procter — I
should very willingly make my essay on her biography
but have so long dropped out of literary society that I
mistrust my ability to get at private sources of informa-
tion altho* many years ago I met her and I daresay
her mother and certainly one or two of her intimate
friends. Your stating that copyright difficulties will not
hamper the transaction is very good news, as (I suppose)
a great part of the volume of from 1 50 to 200 pages
must in the case of a quiet life, such as I suppose Miss
Procter's to have been, be made up of quotations from her
unpublished verse or of available correspondence should
such come to light.

* My response does not, I fear, read very promisingly,
and pray feel no scruples at turning elsewhere. How
long I shall continue in the country I have no means
of foreseeing as my movements do not depend upon
myself in this matter. So if nothing else comes of our
overtures let them at least lead up to my remaining

' Very sincerely yours,'

90 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Mr. W. M. Rossetti subsequently suggested that
the monograph on Adelaide Procter had better be
written by Mrs. A. A. Watts, as that lady had had
a more intimate acquaintance with her than had
Christina. Christina Rossetti's next letter, dated
Birchington, March 13, 1882, sets forth this, and states
that, owing to her present circumstances, she was unable
at the moment to take up definitely any literary occu-
pation. With characteristic thought fulness she names
* with warm commendation ' Mrs. Bell Scott, Mrs.
Gemmer (Gerda Fay), Mrs. Edgecombe, and Miss
Rintoul as very suitable for such work.

In the early part of 1883, again through her brother,
Mr. Ingram once more approached Christina Rossetti,
asking her to undertake the life of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, which Mr. Ingram himself subsequently wrote,
and I quote a portion of a letter, written from Torrington
Square, shortly afterwards :

* My brother has showed me that obliging letter in
which you express good will that I rather than some
others should undertake a life of Mrs. Browning. I
should write with enthusiasm of that great poetess and
(I believe) lovable woman, whom I was never, however,
so fortunate as to meet. But before I could put pen to
paper it would b^ necessary for me to know what would
be Mr. Browning's wish in the matter, — and by his wish,
whatever it might be, I should feel bound ; both because
he as her husband seems to me the one person entitled
to decide how much or how little concerning her should
during his lifetime be made public, and because having
long enjoyed a slight degree of acquaintance with him I
could not but defer to his wish.'

After some delay Christina abandoned the thought
of the proposed study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING 9 1

the reason berng indicated in a letter dated May 8 of
the same year :

* Do you know, I do not feel courage to embark on
the memoir of E. B. B. ; it seems to me clear that with-
out Mr. Browning's co-operation the thing cannot (at
least during his lifetime) be thoroughly executed :
besides which, I strongly sympathise with his reticence
where one so near and dear to him is concerned.'

Dating from Torrington Square, April 24, 1883, she
says to the same correspondent :

* My brother tells me you are kindly thinking of me
for " Mrs. Radcliffe." She takes my fancy more than
many, altho' I know next to nothing about her. And
I will try my pen upon her, if you please. Are any
hopes to be indulged of private letters, journals, what
not, becoming accessible to us? or must I depend
exclusively on looking up my subject at the British
Museum ? '

In a few days' time, when acknowledging a list of
authorities and British Museum readers' slips made out
by Mr. Ingram for her use, she wrote to him as follows :

* Will you add one more favour ? letting me have a
pa^e of the edition you edit, that so I may copy it out
and form an idea of about how much of my own MS.
will go to the 180 or 200 (is it not?) pages of print
required.'

And again :

* I find I can get the four books in question at
Mudie's, and I will do so if you are so good as to assure
me that my contingent publisher will not " time me."
I am not strong, and working under pressure is too
formidable. But I hope this time the difficulty will not
compel me to forego my undertaking, tho' were it
insisted on I must secede.'

Informed that she would have what she termed her
* weak point ' — time — she replies under date of May 28 ;

92 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* 50/. is all I wish for, and if I succeed in finding
sufficient material I shall be very pleased with my
earnings.'

It may here be mentioned that Mr. Ingram never
had the smallest intention of inconveniencing Christina
Rossetti by insisting on the prompt production of a bio-
graphy, or upon its consisting of a given number of
pages.

In Christina Rossetti*s opinion the great difficulty
that stood in her way in the case of Anne RadclifTe
was lack of material. She wrote a letter on the subject
to ' The Athenaeum,' and also wrote privately to Pro-
fessor Masson of Edinburgh, who recommended Dr.
Richard Garnett of the British Museum. The latter
gentleman and several others were applied to, but, the
result being in Christina Rossetti's opinion inadequate,
she communicated her final decision to Mr. Ingram in a
letter written from London, dated September 17, 1883 :

* Returned from the seaside I can only say I have
done my best to collect Radcliffe material and have
failed. Some one else, I daresay, will gladly attempt
the memoir, but I despair and withdraw. Pray pardon
me for having kept you so long in suspense. . . .

* Apologising for all that has been disappointment in
my doings and not-doings,

' I remain, etc. etc.*

This correspondence has much intrinsic interest,
because it reveals Christina Rossetti's opinion of two
very different women poets of the century, and the
wide range of her literary sympathies. It also reveals
incidentally some of her own habits of work.

At a much later date (September 23, 1891) she
wrote concerning Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Mr.
Patchett Martin, who had then just published an article in

MR. FREDERIC SHIELDS 93

which he had stated as his opinion that she herself was

* the greater literary artist ' of the two :

* Yet all said, I doubt whether the woman is born, or
for many a long day, if ever, will be born, who will
balance not to say outweigh Mrs. Browning.'

Mr. Shields was with those who gathered round
Dante Gabriel during his last days at Birchington, and
he is the * friend ' mentioned in * Time Flies,' under date
of April 28, as having told Christina how he had
observed, in the course of a walk,

* cobwebs shaped more or less like funnels or tunnels, one
end open to the road, while deep down at the other end
lay in wait the spider.'

And she adds, somewhat naively,

* I walked a little about the same country, and failed
to observe the spider ; fortunately for me I was not a fly.

* The spider was on the alert in his sphere, my friend
was on the alert in his higher sphere ; I alone, it would
seem, was not on the alert in either sphere.'

With that vivid symbolism which is so marked a
feature of her genius, she gives us a homily on the little
incident that, in its own way, both in insight and in style,
is one of the finest passages of her prose. But only in a
mind like Christina Rossetti's could so trivial an incident
have evoked so remarkable a sequence of ideas. Truly
it is one of the prerogatives of genius sometimes to see
the much and the little.

The following letter was probably written in 1883 :

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Thursday 7th.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — My Mother and I have thought
of you very often since our common loss drew us all to
Birchington. Will you and Mrs. Shields come to see us

94 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

one evening, say Monday or Tuesday ? We shall be quite
by ourselves. You know we do not achieve late dinners,
but we would have a solid tea at any hour suited to your
convenience, half-past eight or nine, — it would make no
difference to us, and we recollect how precious daylight
is to an artist. Please remember us cordially to Mrs,
Shields : we shall welcome you both. My Mother thinks
you will like to look at one treasure she possesses, a
medallion of our dear Gabriel done when he was eighteen
by John Hancock : this is the solitary attraction we put
forward to induce yoq to come ! — but do not come if
health or aught else interposes a bar.

* Yet hopeful of your saying j'^ I remain

* Very truly yours

* Christina G. Rossetti/

On April 9, 1883 — the first anniversary of Dante
Gabriel's death — I went down to Birchington with my
friend, Mr. Hall Caine, to visit the poet-painter's last
resting-place. To Mr. Hall Caine, Christina and her
mother had entrusted some choice flowers to be placed
on the beloved grave.

30 Torrington Square W.C.
April 15.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — My friend Miss Heaton is in
London and reminds me of my promise to introduce
her to your beautiful works and gracious self, — so I, in my
turn, remind you of your sanction accorded to our scheme.
Would next Tuesday (21st) morning, about noon I mean,
suit your convenience as well as our pleasure } If not,
please kindly propose any other morning whatsoever.

. • . • a .

* Please write your yes or no on ^ CARD, which is a
modern luxury among friends.

* I wonder whether you are an an ti- Vivisect ion ist,
and I wonder whether you are a Minors'-Protectionist.
I am trying to get signatures on both subjects to
Petitions to Parliament'

Mr. Shields is an anti-Vivisectionist, and he signed

MEMORIAL WINDOW TO DANTE GABRIEL 95

that petition, and also one in favour of the Minors'
Protection Bill — a proposed measure dealing with the
' age of consent' She was a strong anti-Vivisectionist,
and in another letter thanked her friend * very warmly *
because of his zeal in the same cause.

One of the windows in Birchington Church, to the
memory of Dante Gabriel, was erected solely at the
expense of his mother, and this she confided to Mr.
Shields. Christina conducted the necessary corre-
spondence, which is beautiful and touching as reveal-
ing anew her affection for both Dante Gabriel and her
mother. It also shows Christina's assured belief in
Mr. Shields as an artist, and the high esteem in which
she held him as a man. These letters, as all such
letters between tried friends should be, are direct tran-
scripts of character. To read them is to seem to hear
her speak.

Concerning the window in Birchington Church the
following extract from remarks addressed to me by
Mr. Shields may here be given :

* My original proposition was that both the subjects
should be copies of Rossetti's designs, and I consented
that one of the lights should be filled by a design from
my own hand, only in deference to their will (which
touched me much) because, said they, I was his
friend.'

Mr. Shields first selected for the memorial window
Dante Gabriel's own design of * Mary Magdalene at the
Door of Simon the Pharisee,' but this was * disallowed '
by the incumbent of the church. Hence, with the
approval of Dante Gabriel's representatives, Mr. Shields
adopted finally Dante Gabriel's design, ' The Eve of the
Passover.'

96 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* We, too/ in the following letter refers to the ac-
quiescence of Mrs. Rossetti and Christina in Mr. Shields's
suggestion to use * The Passover * design in place of the
rejected one.

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Wednesday.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — We, too ! Stirred up by your
note I have just written to Mr. Wheeler of Oxford — I
suppose " Oxford " suffices for his address — to ask after
this much-wished-for photograph.

* My poor Mother salutes you with a weary disap-
pointment fully equal to your own, and I remain in
harmony.*

Concerning *this much-wished-for photograph ' Mr.
W. M. Rossetti has written interestingly to me :

* I feel confident that the photograph wanted must
have been one from Gabriers own drawing of the Pass-
over in the Holy Family, which drawing (first bought
by [Mr.] Ruskin) had been presented by him to, or de-
posited in, the Art-Gallery of Oxford.'

Mr. Shields had exceptional trouble as to this win-
dow, but the result is a very fine example of his work.
At the outset he felt some uncertainty as to which were
the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover. He consulted
Christina, who in her turn inquired of Dr. Littlcdale.
Her reply may be given for the sake of the playful
humour of the postscript :

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Friday afternoon.

'Dear Mr. Shields, — I return Dr. Acland's letter.
My Mother read it with interest, and I wrote our joint
answer. Thank you for it and for all the toils en-
countered in our cause.

* Dr. Littledale answered my query so immediately
that here is his answer. Lettuce and endive are so
familiar that it may tempt you to avoid the other two !

BIRCHINGTON 97

* The above ill-constructed sentences shall veil them-
selves behind motherly remembrances, while I remain

* Very truly yours

'Christina G. Rossetti/

* Don't remark, " I had better have borrowed the
Thesaurus ! "—don't let him, my dear Mrs. Shields/

Concerning Dante Gabriers * Eve of the Passover,*
Mr. Shields has written to me :

* The drawing (one of Mr. Ruskin's precious gifts to
the Oxford Museum) is unfinished, in which state Mr.
Ruskin bore it away from the painter, in mistaken
enthusiasm, declaring he would spoil it in finishing.
Hence a vacuity — which I was loth to supply from
myself — I ascertained that Dr. Acland had the original
pencil sketch, and there I found the entire motive suffici-
ently indicated to enable me to complete the design
according to the beautiful purpose of its inventor. To
Dr. Acland's kind permission to make notes from the
precious sketch, the reference in the letter applies.'

Several of the letters that follow immediately were
written during somewhat lengthy sojourns which she and
her mother made at Birchington in 1883 and 1884.

The letter given below is valuable, as it contains a
tentative suggestion of Christina's for the design of the
window.

Church Hill, Birchington-on-Sea
July 25, 1883.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — My mother joins me in thanking
you for the warm reception you accord to her wish, and
bids me explain the 100/. is not necessarily the extreme
limit of her offering. Less she does not propose — some-
thing more she is quite willing for.

* Mr. Seddon was here the other afternoon, seemed to
think her window quite feasible, and promised himself
to write to you : so I hope all will be made accurate
and intelligible. The window in question consists of

H

98 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

2 lights only : its companion window equally of 2
lights would be abandoned entire to friends and
admirers who of course would please themselves as to
what artists should be called in : but my Mother's
window she wishes (if so it may be) to secure exclusively
from yourself. We wonder how you will devise a
design which can at all express the man and the work :
I am quite unable to think of anything nearer than the
inadmissible combination of 2 incongruous figures, St
Luke and the Archangel Gabriel ! A quite different
treatment of our dear subject had occurred to me, and
had for the moment approved itself to my Mother : a
Raising of the Widow of Nain's Son. We considered
that as Baptism is " a death unto sin, and a new birth
unto righteousness " an instance of Resurrection might
be viewed as typically appropriate to a Baptistery ; while
Gabriel (tho* not an only son) was a beloved, loving,
conspicuous son of a widow, who cherishes among her
dearest hopes that of receiving him back at the general
Resurrection by the overflowing mercy of God. But I
tell you this so freely because you always invite confi-
dence — not because you need prompting, or we are
wedded to our own idea.

* We hope Mrs. Shields will yet get better, and brighten
your heart and home again. Our love to her, please. I
wonder whether Birchington would suit her : it is coldish
at present, yet we — who in age might more than be her
grandmother and mother ! — are revived in this fine air.
Welcome will you be on Monday, or Tuesday, or any
other day. We dine at 2, and would have tea at any
hour to suit you ; but we would not grudge you livelier
entertainment at Dilkoosha or the Vicarage, if such
were to offer. And never make excuses for not calling,
please ! It is a friendly favour when you drop in, it is
no omission when you forbear.*

The following letter and its * separate sheet ' will show
both the practical side of Christina Rossetti's character,
and how she spared herself no trouble, even as to the

CHRISTINAS PRACTICAL CHARACTER 99

minutest particulars, when the comfort of the friends
who formed her inner circle was concerned.

Church Hill, Birchington-on-Sea
August I.

* My dear Mr. Shields, — How I hope that Birchington
— if Birchington prove to be your bourne — may revive
you and your wife. Our love to her, please, and our
very best wishes for her recovery and enjoyment, — if she
rallies, you will brighten up, and I hope throw oflF that
very painful besetment neuralgia.

' On a separate sheet I send you what particulars I
have unearthed. By far the largest and best room of
all I have seen is the one room at the pastrycook's, but
very likely such a make-shift is not admissible. The
whole group of lodgings I send you are more or less
near the church, — this, need I remind you ? involves their
being at some distance from the sea, and accounts for
the comparatively low rents demanded. Near the sea
I am not aware of anything to be had, short of an
entire house.

' If there is anything more I can do, command me.
I called on Mrs. Seddon before commencing my round
of apartments-hunting, and it was in fact thro' her
that I heard of the cottage in my list ; so there can
be no doubt of the respectability of this said cottage —
for, it is let by people who she thought might have
rooms to let.

* The weather here varies between summer and
winter ! To-day is of an intermediate temperature.

' Be sure you will find my dear Mother ready and
anxious to set forward the memorial. To-day I re-
visited the dear old bungalow and brought away a
bunch of flowers from its garden and conservatory.*

[Copy of separate sheef]

Mr. Tapsell — pastrycook. Station Road (which is a

sort of village High St.)

One only but really large room seeming thoroughly
furnished as bed and sitting room in one.
25*/ per week.

H 2

ICX) CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Gas i"/6 do.

Boots \d.

Washing linen either at a small charge or perhaps for

a fortnight gratis.

A square landing outside the room door large
enough for a small table and chair would do to write a
letter or what not, if the real room were occupied at the
moment

Mrs. Harris. Jessamine Cottage, Church Street
Stands in a row of a few cottages.

Fronts towards the Church : back looking into own

garden or kitchen garden

Sitting room ground floor, bedroom above.

25"/. per week with attendance.

Boots id. per pair.

Cruets &c, 6d. per week.

Kitchen fire i"/ do.

Washing of linen aboui 2"/ for a fortnight, if that is the

whole term.

Mr. D. Golder, Ironmonger, Park Lane.

A cottage, furnished, could be entered at once but must

be vacated not later than the 13th. 2 guineas for the

above short term. Occupant must provide his own

attendance, plate, linen.

3 bedrooms

2 sitting-rooms

Kitchens &c.

The cottage looks into its own little piece of garden

front — it stands in a row — and at the back towards

other premises.

Mrs. Jakes, 10 Prospect Villas.

Sitting room and bedroom on first floor. (Stands in a

row of lodging-letting houses.)

30"/ per week

Kitchen fire i"/6 per week

No other extras.

When I saw these rooms both had beds in them, but
one would be cleared and turned into a sitting-room

C. G. R«

HER MOTHERS DISPOSITION lOI

The succeeding letter has ch^tracteristic touches :

• ••

5 • ; . •

^ Statioft J^oaTl ^irchington-on-Sea

* Dear Mr. Shields, — I return with many*\hanks the
letter which shows how readily you oblige* iis. Its
substance I have forwarded to my Aunt and T hope it
will open to her a great pleasure. If when the window •
is completed it will be " on view " for a day or two/T^* ,
have a very old friend — an admirer too of Gabriel's — who
would greatly like to look at it : in case of such a
chance I venture to send you her address :

*Mrs. Heimann

* Rolandseck

' 25 Mayflower Road

' Clapham Road '

' But I selfishly hope the window will not be detained
long " on view " in London.

* For my Mother and I nurse the hope of seeing it
ourselves before we leave this place. To-morrow, how-
ever, we have arranged to change our lodgings to next
door : so henceforward our number will be 5, all else
continuing as at present Kindly note the petty change
in our address/

This passage from a letter to the same correspon-
dent, written from the same place at a somewhat
earlier date, gives an almost pathetic glimpse of her
mother's disposition :

* Even your personal love of Gabriel weighs less with
her [Mrs. Rossetti] in this quest than your personal love
of Christ'

As to the above quotation her brother William
writes to me :

' I consider the meaning must be that Mrs. Rossetti,
in addressing to Shields her quest for a memorial
window (and not for instance to Madox Brown), was

• •

I02 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

influenced by Shields's.kivfi of Christ, even more than
by his love of Gabriel*/.. -.

» •

This one, wriiteti from London, shows in what spirit
her motheraod herself approached financial considera-
tions wheq Sealing with friends :

• \ Oct. 4.

\ •. ' Dear Mr. Shields, — The paragraph in a recent

. * Athenaeum which announces your forthcoming window

• ' •*• upbuilds our hope of seeing that beautiful work.

' : * My Mother salutes you with true friendship and —

begging your excuse if we violate artistic etiquette —

desires me to ask whether this is the moment for offering

you a "retainer"?— either 50/. or 100/. as you shall

I dictate. If you will favour her with a prompt reply

I she is just now about to have an account-settling, in the

' course of which and without any great delay she will

[ have the pleasure of transmitting to you either sum you

may prefer. Not that she forgets that the beloved
' window remains at liberty to exceed 100/. : every detail

will be cheerfully gone into at a future moment ; but
this proposal is, perhaps, what applies to the present
time. I daresay you saw or at least heard of the letter in
a " Times " not long ago, which stirred up all our family
feeling for the cherished grave, if it needed stirring up.*

Evidently Christina and her mother found the end
of their stay at Birchington a little wearisome.

5 Station Road Birchington-on-Sea
October 14.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — Alas ! the weather took a
wintry turn some days ago, and has only partially
recovered itself since. So my Mother desires me to
announce that unless the beloved window can fill its
nook by fhe end of this month she resigns herself to
return home, and gaze at it — next best — in London when
the happy moment shall arrive. Birchington cold,
when it does come, is no trifle.

* We hope this will find your wife and you at least

MR. H. TREFFRY DUNN IO3

pretty well, and that both will accept our very friendly
salutations, and that you will not begin quite to hate

* Your tormenting correspondent

* Christina G. Rossetti/

This reveals her mother's character as well as her
own:

5 Station Road Birchington-on-Sea
October 22. 1884.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — Your red letter to-day turned
into a " red letter day " for us. I wish to-morrow may
turn out one for you by finding Mrs. Shields better and
so your load of care lightened. Pray give her our love
and accept our friendliest remembrances.

* Now indeed we look forward to admiring the
beautiful window. It will always remain your labour of
love — but my Mother begs you as soon as possible to
let her have an exhaustive list of her money debts to
the Glass Firm and much more to yourself: that she
may as quickly as she can meet her liabilities. At 84
she feels that to-day's duty had more than ever better
be performed to day and not postponed. till to-morrow.
Please recollect the St. Mary Magdalene Cartoon along
with all the rest. We hope to go home next Tuesday,
on which day our ninth week at Birchington expires.
I rejoice to see Mr. Seddon's name and Mr. [the Rev.
Alfred] Gurney's — not to speak of William's — among
the gazers [" gazers " refers to those who had been privi-
leged to see the memorial window at Mr. Shields's
studio] ; I wonder if Mr. Dunn was included, Mr.
Watts [-Dunton] we knew already you meant to
summon, and truly that staunch friend is not one to be
omitted on such an occasion.

* With warm thanks for all you have done for us and
an earnest wish that the results may enhance your
fame

• Very truly yours '

Mr. H. Treffry Dunn alluded to above is more than
once mentioned by Mr. W. M. Rossetti in his * Memoir *
of Dante Gabriel. With the latter Mr. Dunn was at

I04 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

one time much associated, as his * art-assistant/ and
resided with him. Dante Gabriel had a high opinion
of Mr. Dunn's artistic gifts especially as a colourist, and
it was with Mr. Dunn as companion that the poet-
painter made his memorable pilgrimage to Stratford-

on-Avon.

Mr. Shields has told me that he was so much
touched by the sympathetic and delicate tact of Mrs.
Rossetti in connection with the negotiations for this
window, that, on its completion, he gave her, as a mark
of his appreciation, a copy of his drawing * The Good
Shepherd ' to be mentioned hereafter.

This is individual :

30 Torrington Square W.C
Friday afternoon.

' Dear Mr. Shields, — We awaited you last night and
you did not come. Did t[is arise from my not having
answered that we should ! |)e at home ? I thought my
silence would speak, but! ; if I ought to have written
pardon me. Or was it tll|it you were not well enough
to come? If so, sad is tl!e cause : but the result shall

•ling on you can forward busi-
ness matters. Any event ig we shall be at home, if still
you like to come : or if IJcall at your studio I will (not

hearing from you to the c
next Tuesday before abo
' My Mother greets y(

eye, even if our corporeal

)ntrar>') do my best to appear

t I o'clock.

I and your wife cordially, and

I act echo. The beautifuj I window abides in our mental

,sye see it never again.

Ifuly

yours

* P.S. I had just written the ERASED pages when I
found your card in the post box. Do pray take care
of your precious self. I will try to call to-morrow
(Saturday) towards noon ; but if you are out or
engaged do not feel kindly anxious, as I can quite
easily return another time.'

The ensuing letter shows Christina's conscientious-

HER CONSCIENTIOUSNESS IO5

ness ; her tact in dealing with one of the occasional
amtretemps of social intercourse ; and her views on a
difficult subject that is often discussed, views which,
coming from one with her artistic surroundings, are
particularly noteworthy, though it must be remem-
bered that her brother, the famous painter, was no more
a * dealer in such wares * than was his friend Mr. Shields.

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Tuesday.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — I must beg your patience and
favourable construction for this letter, for it may appear
clear to you that I ought not to write it. Even if so,
you are one to make allowance for a conscientious
mistake.

* 1 think that last night in admiring [Miss] 's work

1 might better havesaid less unless I could have managed
at the same time to convey more. I do admire the
grace and beauty of the designs, but I do not think that
to call a figure * a fairy ' settles the right and wrong of
such figures. You (so far as I know) are no dealer in
such wares. Therefore I think it possible you will
agree with me in thinking that all do well to forbear
such delineations, and that most of all women artists
should set the example and lead the way.

* I ought not now — I fear — be having to say awkwardly
what should not have been so totally ignored in my
tone last night : but last night's blunder must not make
me the slave of false shame this morning.

' Do not answer this : I am not afraid to have
offended you.

' My mental eye is fixed on fetching the dear photo-
graph, I hope possibly to do so to-morrow and then
quickly to send it to you. But if a longer time elapses
do not think I am forgetful : sometimes I am hin-
dered/

The * dear photograph ' in the above extract alludes
to a photograph of Dante Gabriel she herself brought to
Mr. Shields,

I06 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Here is an extract from a letter to Mrs. Frederic
Shields written on December 26, 1883. The *dear
friend ' referred to was probably Charles Bagot Cayley,
the translator of Dante, whose work, as I have men-
tioned, Christina admired greatly, and whose literary
executrix she became :

*. . . . Pray thank your husband for sympathy.
Our Xmas has indeed been saddened by the loss of so
dear a Friend. " They shall perish, but Thou remainest,'*
— one ought to be able to say so even when Death does
its momentary work, but how easy the words are to
utter and how difficult their meaning to attain. I hope
your near and dear circle will remain long uninvaded.*

Apropos of a visit to Brighton in 1885 she writes twa
letters to Mrs. W. M. Rossetti giving hints as to the
habits of the household in Torrington Square, and as to
her sentiments towards Birchington :

* Do you happen to recollect the direction of your
lodgings ? If so I am sure you will kindly let me have
it, but I will only trouble you to do so if you judge that
the house is one likely to accommodate our party of four.
Not that we want anything exceptional : four beds in
either 2 or 3 bedrooms, and a sitting-room. Ground floor
or 1st floor preferred, — not, that is, any of the rooms higher
up than the 1st floor. Cooking nice, and proper attend-
ance. If possible we should be quite glad to pay for
board as well as lodging : do you think there would be
a chance of this } — for not one of us feels any fancy for
the housekeeping department. If I do not hear from you
I shall understand that you do not see a likelihood of
our suiting the lodgings in question.

. . . « . .

* Our rooms are on the ground floor, which for some
reasons suits us best. I don't think I have stayed at
Brighton since 1 850 (!) so my recollections of locality are
not very vivid ; and were they so, doubtless many of them
would be obsolete . . . We cannot be accused of being

TIME FLIES 107

children ! . . Our loves to sensible Olive and studious
Helen [her second niece] ; please tell the former that it
would do me a great deal of good to spell certain words
over and over again . . . The short journey is a boon,
otherwise I should hanker after Birchington.'

Mr. Shields had promised to design a cover for
Time Flies/ but, owing to illness, was unable to carry
out his intentions. Hearing of this Christina wrote to
him thus :

April 20.

* My dear Mr. Shields, — My Mother and I join ia
hearty hopes that you are rallying by the sea and are
storing strength for a happy return to London and to
congenial work. Whether your wife is or not with you
our love to her and our best wishes.

* Meanwhile " Time Flies " ! Pray do not bestow
another thought on the beautiful work you meant to do
for me, and of which the good will is more precious to
me than the handicraft however choice that might have
been. I beg you to ease your mind of any further care
on the subject. Will you write to Mr. McClure or shall
I ? My book must trust for success to its inner graces
and not to the mantle of your name and fame.'

April 22.

* Dear Mr. Shields, — We are so sorry, my mother and
I, to know that you are ill and suffering, — for we have just
seen your kind letter to the S.P.C.K. But I will not forego
associating you in some degree with my book, for I am
sure you will give me pleasure by accepting a copy when
I hope the cover will seem to you not amiss as a humble
substitute. I who have just been shown the design^
think it not at all unpleasing, and as I am quite incapable
of figuring to myself what I have missed I may rest
contented. I hope " Time Flies " will interest you more
rather than less, because on 2 of the days you will
recognise thoughts of your own : you threw light on
* Cleansing of the Temple " one evening, this furnishes the
substance of one paper [ " Time Flies," January 23] ; and
another owes its origin to your vivid description of

I08 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

certain wayside spiders at Birchington [see p. 93 of the
present volume]. Mr. McClure tells me the book is to
come out on May ist, so I hope it will not be very long
before I offer you your copy.

* Always your obliged friend

* Christina G. Rossetti.'

What follows was written in 1885. Dr. Olivieri, in
the words of her surviving brother, * was an estimable
and cultivated Italian, much afflicted by ill-health and
other troubles. . . . He died some years ago.'

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Saturday evening

* My dear William, —Dr. Olivieri has given Mamma
and me the tickets I enclose to you with our loves.
Can you make any use of them ? . . . best of all your-
self y but this I dare not anticipate. The prospectuses
I add, thinking it not quite impossible you might
mention the 3 lectures in an Athenaeum " gossip " para-
graph but of course there is no time to lose, if kindly
you bestow a thought on the matter. Mamma and I —
who really cannot attend — are going to purchase 2
tickets apiece, and I must think (if I can) of the best
people to give them to. Mamma was tired with a long
drive yesterday, and to-day we have stayed at home,
but we hope to get to church to-morrow. Mr. John
Walker writes that he has got " Time Flies" and mentions
with admiration the roundels in general and " If love is
not worth loving " in particular. Your blushing sister

' C. G. R.'

* I saw the first quotation from " Time Flies " in a
parish paper by Mr. Gurney [see pp. 1 20-6].'

The Duke of Westminster commissioned Mr. Shields
to decorate the chapel at Eaton Hall. He talked over
with his friend possible subjects for designs, and soon
afterwards she sent him the following memoranda.
Concerning these Mr. Shields has written to me.

CHAPEL AT EATON HALL IO9

'These notes generously sent to me by Christina
Rossetti after a talk with her over the subjects are most
interesting — that on Love particularly so — though none
concurred with my own subsequent designs, they mani-
fest a clear beautiful power of vision in the writer.

* The suggestion of heartsease on the floor of the
figure of " Obedience " caused me to wreath the yoke he
bears with the floral emblem of rest.*

The original MS. of the memoranda was written on
sheets of blue paper quarto size. From the manuscript
it would seem that she had, subsequently to its being
written, gone through it again, renumbering her notes,
and italicising certain of her phrases, in red ink.

I. * ( You told me) I Adam and Eve, Angels like
birds in trees. Praise, Revelation xv. 2, 3 : vii. 9.
Some in white robes, 2 Palms and harps in hand^
standing and singing on sea of glass and fire.

* 2. 3 Nativity, Canticles ii. i (applied to our
Lord). B. Virgin seated in sky-coloured robe sprinkled
with flames (as a symbol of God the Holy Ghost : St
Luke \. 35) our Infant Lord on her knee, He wearing
the 3-flame Glory. Background of upper portion of
design trefoils as symbols of the Holy Trinity — lower
background and floor roses and lilies (see ante Canticles
li. I).

*4 Obedience, Proverbs xxiii. 26 Youthful figure
kneeling, elevating and offering a flaming and smoking
censer, of heart-shape, golden and set with rubies
(perhaps some reference might be made to Job xxviii.

17, 18).

'Quote St. John xiv. 15 and Romans xiii. 10. The
floor of heartsease flowers . . . their being floor hinting
how often if we offer our heart to God we must also
trample earthly affection under foot.

' 3. Crucifixion,

* S Faith, Canticles ii. 3. Apple tree full of fruit

and foliage branching crosswise. Female figure expres-
sive of joy and sorrow (seated in tree-shadow which

no CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

■** signs her with the sign of the Cross '*) and gazing
upwards. Ground of lilies amid thorns.

* 6 4- Ascension, Ascends with visible ascending
action, and in attitude of benediction : St. Luke xxiv,
SO, SI.

* 7 Hope (this I merely add, knowing it is not wanted)
Hebrews vi. 19. Man in boat casting anchor. Above,

sky with rainbow : below, fainter rainbow in water,

into which anchor strikes.

* S- Pentecost

* 8 Love. Romans xii. 20, 21. Man feeding enemy,
with warm mess. Fire at which he has cooked it,
whence revives phoenix. Taken in connection with
compartment above, I want the thread of fire (so to say)
to descend (in idea) from the Divine fountain of Love,
through the Twelve, to the love-kindled symbolic figure,
to kindle finally the " enemy," — whose life re-kindled by
his benefactor's " coals of fire " is emblematized by the
phcenix.

* 9 6. Judgfnent, Same action precisely as in No. 4,
only descending instead of ascending. The clouds (Rev.
I. 7) dimly lighted up by returning saints (i Thess. 4,
14, 16), and the Archangels, one shouting the other
sounding the trumpet.

* 10 Vigilance, (as you said) the Wise Virgins.

* The three top lights \i Angels, — I think a moon might
accompany each, — the first crescent, the second full, the
third waning, to correspond with the course of the Dis-
pensation figure and symbolised below.

* I have fancied that the balance of colour, &c., is in
some measure observed in the details as above.*

To the same correspondent she says some time
afterwards :

* Dear Mr. Shields, — Do you recollect in old days
signing an anti- Vivisection Petition to Parliament ? A
Memorial is now preparing for presentation to the Home
Secretary beseeching him not to licence a so called
" Institute of Preventive Medicine " which will establish
Pasteur's treatment and I suppose other horrors in our
midst. I am procuring a few signatures. If you share

CORRESPONDENCE WITH AUGUSTA WEBSTER III

our anxiety, and will favour us with a post card, I will
send the memorial to you for signature for yourself and
(if it were so) by any other grown-up English man or
woman within your influence. If on the contrary I do
not hear from you I will understand your silence as
negative/

Mr. Shields gratified Christina by signing the
petition. In truth she paid more attention to social
questions than one would be apt to suppose, and respect-
ing them her attitude was often highly individual.

Augusta Webster, one of the most eminent of
women poets, was also a trenchant prose writer. A
vigorous and eloquent advocate of Women's Suffrage,
she wrote on this subject in * The Examiner,' then
under the editorship of Professor William Minto. Her
contributions were subsequently reprinted by the
Women's Suffrage Society in leaflet form, and were
forwarded to Christina Rossetti. Mr. Thomas Webster
has most courteously placed at my disposal the corre-
spondence that* ensued, and from two of Christina
Rossetti's letters to Augusta Webster I make the follow-
ing extracts :

* You express yourself with such cordial openness that
I feel encouraged to endeavour also after self-expression
— no easy matter sometimes. I write as I am thinking
and feeling, but I premise that I have not even to my
own apprehension gone deep into the question ; at least,
not in the sense in which many who have studied it
would require depth of me. In one sense I feel as if I
had gone deep, for my objection seems to myself a
fundamental one underlying the whole structure of female
claims.

' Does it not appear as if the Bible was based upon
an understood unalterable distinction between men and
women, their position, duties, privileges ? Not arrogating
to myself but most earnestly desiring to attain to the

112 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

character of a humble orthodox Xtian, so it does appear
to me ; not merely under the Old but also under the
New Dispensation. The fact of the Priesthood being
exclusively man's, leaves me in no doubt that the
highest functions are not in this world open to both
sexes : and if not all, then a selection must be made and
a line drawn somewhere. — On the other hand if female
rights are sure to be overborne for lack of female voting
influence, then I confess I feel disposed to shoot ahead
of my instructresses, and to assert that female M.P's
are only right and reasonable. Also I take exceptions
at the exclusion of married women from the suffrage, —
for who so apt as Mothers — all previous arguments
allowed for the moment — to protect the interests of
themselves and of their offspring ? I do think if any-
thing ever does sweep away the barrier of sex, and make
the female not a giantess or a heroine but at once and
full grown a hero and giant, it is that mighty maternal
love which makes little birds and little beasts as well as
little women matches for very big adversaries.

• .... a •

' Nor do I think it quite inadmissible that men should
continue the exclusive national legislators, so long as
they do continue the exclusive soldier-representatives of
the nation, and engross the whole payment in life and
limb for national quarrels. I do not know whether any
lady is prepared to adopt the Platonic theory of female
regiments ; if so, she sets aside this objection : but I am
not, so to me it stands.*

And again :

* Many who have thought more and done much more
than myself share your views, — and yet they are not
mine. I do not think the present social movements
tend on the whole to uphold Xtianity, or that the influence
of some of our most prominent and gifted women is
exerted in that direction : and thus thinking I cannot
aim at " women's rights."

* Influence and responsibility are such solemn matters
that I will not excuse myself to you for abiding by my
convictions : yet in contradicting you I am contradicting
one I admire.'

HER NIECES AND NEPHEW II3

Christina was deeply interested in the concerns of
her nieces and nephew. One of her names for them
was * the Four.' Writing to Mrs. W.^ M. Rossetti one
Sunday morning of 1883, she says :

* Reconsidering the great question of Olive's birth-
day, it strikes me very strongly that I would rather
give her Motley's book than the other. So if she has
taken no steps in the matter, please tell her so: but if
on the faith of my word she has actually procured
the other, then I will pay for it as I said at first Of
course should there be something else which she would
prefer to either, I am cheerfully open to " a bid." My
love to her and to her juniors if they are all at home
again. Please tell Arthur that Aunt Eliza liked his
flowers particularly.'

And in July 1885 she writes to the same correspon-
dent then at Bournemouth :

'Welcome was the triple letter of this morning,
especially as it tells us that you appear to gain ground
and that your children are well. To you Mamma
sends a maternal love, and to them a grand maternal.
I add my modest greeting. Mamma values Olive's
sensible letter and notices the improved handwriting,
and little Mary's funny composition with its spirited
account of the dogs and monkeys greatly pleases
her. We should very much like to see Bournemouth
with its shade and its charms : but such delights are no
longer for us. Meanwhile we find London extremely
bearable.

* Wc had the pleasure of seeing Mr. [Madox] Brown
and William on Sunday afternoon ; and we brought out
portraits of Gabriel, amongst which 2 photographs may
perhaps prove usejful [for Ford Madox Brown's bust of
Dante Gabriel at Chelsea]. Dr. Littledale dropped in
before they left and renewed acquaintance. . . .'

The phrase * such delights are no longer for us '
alludes to her mother's determination to avoid railway
journeys of any great length.

I

Il4 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

The three succeeding beautiful letters, addressed to
Mr. Shields, have reference to her mother's final illness
and death.

30 Torringlon Square W.C.
Monday Afternoon.

* My dear Mr. Shields, — On our part good news. My
precious Mother is better, is out of danger, says to-day
her doctor, if only her strength suffices for the rally.
God grant it, if it be His merciful Will : more than that
I dare not say or even wish. But you may think what
the hope is to me.

* Meanwhile you have been in trouble and sorrow for
your one nearest and dearest. Our love to her, and our
very best wishes for her present ease and speedy recovery.
She has youth on her side, that beautiful and delightful
thing youth. May she soon rejoice you by restored
health.

* Yours very truly,'

And later on she says :

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Monday.

* Dear Friend, — I must not hear of the inestimable
boon of your prayers without writing to thank you for
us both. May your dear wife grow strong. For me
there is no earthly hope, — but far better, a heavenly.

' Always truly yours/

Characteristically unselfish is the remark which
closes what follows, written after her mother's death
in April 1886:

30 Torrington Square W.C.
Saturday.

' Dear Friend, — Thank you for every word which
shows how my dearest Mother was honoured and beloved.
I am glad it is I and not she that is left sorrowful and
lonely.

* Gratefully yours,'

Constantly did she speak, both in her correspondence

HER MOTHER II5

and in her published vvork', about her mother. Indeed
the thought of her mother seemed rarely absent from
her rhind. *The Face of th6 Deep 'contains this delicate
piece of analysis of opposite feminine qualities : '

* Eve exhibits one extreme of feminine character, the
Blessed Virgin the opposite extreme. Eve parleyed
with a devil : holy Mary *'was troubled " at the salutation
of an Angel. Eve sought knowledge : Mary instruction.
Eve aimed at self-indulgence : Mary at self-oblation.
Eve, by disbelief and disobedience, brought sin to the
birth : Mary, by faith and submission, Righteousness.

* And yet, even as at the foot of the Cross, St Mary
Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, stood beside
the " lily among thorns," the Mother of sorrows : so (I
humbly hope and trust) among all saints of all time will
stand before the throne, Eve the beloved first Mother of
us all. Who that has' loved and revered her own
immediate dear Mother, will not echo the hope ? '

Nor is it possible to help reading into these opening
lines from a noble sonnet in the same book an allusion
both to her sister and to her mother.

Our Mothers, lovely women pitiful ;

Our Sisters, gracious in their life and death ;

To us each unforgotten memory saith :
* Learn as we learned in life's sufficient school,'

When reviewing in * The Athenaeum * of February 15,
1896, Christina Rossetti's 'New Poems,* Mr. Watts-
Dunton had some touching remarks respecting her
mother's influence on Christina, and Christina's own
influence on Dante Gabriel :

' Christina Rossetti's peculiar form of the Christian
sentiment she inherited from her mother, the sweetness
of whose nature was never disturbed by that exercise of
the egoism of the artist in which Christina indulged, and

I 2

Il6 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

without whose influence it is difficult to imagine what
the Rossetti family would have been.

• ••••••

' All that is noblest in Christina's poetry, an ever-
present sense of the beauty and power of goodness, must
surely have come from the mother, from whom also
came that other charm of Christina's, to which Gabriel
was peculiarly sensitive, her youthfulness of tempera-
ment

* It was the beauty of her life that made her personal
influence so great, and upon no one was that influence
exercised with more strength than, upon her illustrious
brother Gabriel, who in many ways was so much unlike
her. In spite of his deep religious instinct and his
intense sympathy with niysticism, Gabriel remained
what is called a free thinker in the true meaning of that
much-abused phrase. In religion as in politics he
thought for himself, and yet when Mr. W. M. Rossetti
affirms that the poet was never drawn towards free-
thinking women, he says what is perfectly true. And
this arose from the extraordinary influence, scarcely
recognised by himself, that the beauty of Christina's life
and her religious system had upon him.'

117

CHAPTER IV
BIOGRAPHICAL — {continued)

(Mainly 1886- 1893)

Letters to Mrs. W. M. Rossetti — Correspondence with the Rev. Alfred
Gumey — Her humour in a letter to Mr. Shields and in letters to
Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Rossetti — Poem on the death of the Duke of
Clarence — Article on Tudor House in * Literar>' Opinion.'

Christina Rossetti often spoke to me about her
mother, less frequently about her sister Maria and her
brother Gabriel, though respecting them, and even the
latter, she was by no means reticent, mentioning without
reserve * that fatal chloral ' which had done so much to
mar and to shorten her brother's life. She herself did
not suffer from insomnia. She told me she never knew
what it was to be sleepless, and she told another friend
that her brother Gabriers sleeplessness had a mysterious
fascination for her. In a letter which she describes as
* dismal,' written soon after her mother's death, she
says :

* Life is full of anxieties ... I fluctuate, but neither
far above nor far below my level'

On the sudden death of Dr. Huefler, the brother-in-
law of Mrs. W. M. Rossetti, she wrote to her. Mrs. W.
M. Rossetti was then at Biarritz :

Il8 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

30 Torrington Square— London — W.C.
Jamiar)' 21. 1889.

* My dear Lucy, — I cannot hear of such bereavement
among almost your nearest circle without writing to
remind you of my love and sympathy. Aunt Eliza
unites with me in good will and sympathy and in love
to our nieces and nephew. I had not the slightest idea
such a blow was imminent Poor Cathy ! [Mrs. HuefTer]
I ventured to send her a few flowers to-day. William
came this morning looking as you may suppose^ much
concerned, and anxious on your account. Dear Lucy,
reassure us by bearing the shock bravely and resignedl}'.
Something led me to mention the death to Mr. Stewart
(my Aunts' medical man) and I found he had already
seen it announced in the * Times.' I hope the children
are affectionate to their sorrowful mother — tho' Ford
is no " child " indeed, and Oliver, perhaps, scarcely to be
reckoned one : so I will rather say, I hope the sons and
the little daughter are affectionate to their mother.
Poor Dr. Hueffer, I recollect the special love he lavished
on his little girl, his " Poppy."

*We have just been in much doubt as to Aunt
Charlotte ; however, she has rallied once more. The
attack seemed to begin with a chill, but happily this
did not fasten on the lungs.

* She is very weak, but not perhaps what I ought to
call very ill.

* I hope Biarritz retains all its charms and even
develops fresh ones. Of course you and yours will dip
into Spain when under William's escort ! I am the
more impressed by your triumphant achievements of
economy, because 1 had understood ^ Biarritz to be
particularly dear.'

Christina could still be quietly cheerful, as is seen in
this extract from a letter to her sister-in-law dated 1890,
which refers to Christina's first prospective visit to 3 St.
Edmund's Terrace, Regent's Park, where her brother
William and his family had now gone to reside :

* Ah i)erdona \ [On account of a blot.]

MATTERS MERELY FEMININE T19

* Thank you for the love which sends me so beautiful
a present even more than for the present itself But
it must lie by : it must wait till energy combines with
cash to refurbish my drawing-room decayed in chintz
and cushions. At present I am in the mood to feel
hurried — not to say alas! to feel worried— mth. the
various things which must be done. Laugh at your
inert sister in law, my dear Lucy: and erect her as
scarecrow to frighten Helen and Mary from such moods
and ways ; Olive seems not to need the warning.

* I had been secretly hoping I might see William
yesterday, and he came.

* Thank you affectionately for kindly wishing me to
see you all in your new house. Some day I hope to do
so, though I fear I must forego William on account of
Sunday. Neither can I dream of coming before the
stair carpet completes your splendours ! '

What follows from a letter to her sister-in-law,
written early in 1890, refers to certain articles formerly
the property of Miss Charlotte Polidori who had recently
died. It is given here as perhaps being the only glimpse
in this volume of Christina Rossetti in relation to matters
merely feminine :

* Encouraged by you I send you a very miscellaneous
selection, yet I assure you it is a " selection," not a
higgledy-piggledy all at random.

' The 2 coloured pockethandkerchiefs and the white
kid gloves look as if possibly they might avail for
William, to whom all love. The little pair of white
woollen sleeves (the one which has an edge) please hand
to Helen the beloved, as good old Aunt Charlotte had
a fancy for her to have them. There is a very odd
looking article in velvet and fur — but perhaps you are
familiar with such— which properly arranged resolves
itself into a hood and throat-guard, for over-bonnet-wear
in driving,— perhaps suitable to "opera " wear in London ;
I mean for transit, of course. The other items explain

I20 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

themselves. I am no adept in lace, so if some rubbish
has crept in please condone the error to ignorant good
will;

Here is a letter, penned in April 1 891, to Mrs. W.
M. Rossetti, then at Broadstairs. Some time before,
Christina had planted an acorn in a flower-pot, from
which had sprung the * oak tree ' alluded to :

30 Torrington Square, London, W.C.
Monday.

* My dear Lucy, — Thank you for remembering

— I just discover that I am writing the wrong way

of the paper, but I am sure you will not mind

for remembering the stay-at-home. I like always to
have the address of *' my family," and thus to feel that I
can get at you in case of need. Aunt Eliza has had a
drive in her chair this morning, and sends that all-
embracing love in which I unite. I hope your Broad-
stairs day is as sunny as ours. Admirable and trium-
phant was your sudden flitting : I hope 8 TAe Paragon
is the paragon it professes to be. I bear in mind that
if William has to be at home on the evening of the 4th,
my second Wednesday will not be interfered with.

' Perhaps the most tender-hearted of your children
will bestow a (figurative) tear on the announcement that
my own carelessness in repotting broke of[f ] the lateral
branch of the oak tree the other day : I can but comfort
myself inasmuch as the trunk looks still alive.'

For some years between 1883 and 1893 Christina
Rossetti corresponded at intervals with the Rev. Alfred
Gurney, vicar of S. Barnabas, Pimlico, and her letters
to that gentleman, all written from Torringfton Square
(which by his courtesy it has been my privilege to peruse),
are full of characteristic touches. Probably the first of
these letters is in answer to one of his, in which, presum-
ably, he had supposed her to have joined the Anglican
Sisterhood of All Saints, Margaret Street, London.

1— B^— ^MBK^i^— BW^^ ■ ■ I, ...w^g ■■■ nws rruB

n

THE REV. ALFRED GURNEY 121

5 December.

* Rev^ and dear Sir, — I must strip off my halo !
It \vas my dear sister, not I, who felt drawn to the
noble vocation / have never attempted to fulfil : and
she (I trust) is now an inhabitant of a yet holier and
more blessed Home than the one in Margaret Street
We both met you years ago at Mitcham [at a ' hay-
making party'], before several gaps had been made in
either family.

*Thc advantage and pleasure are mine whenever
what I have written can be turned to good account :
your utilising the Xmas carol lays me under obliga-
tion.'

And again at a later date she writes to the same
correspondent :

* I have just been re-reading your sonnets, and finding
them more beautiful than I at first perceived. Thank
you for them, and for the kind and valued sympathy of
your letter : the " respect " I return in deep earnestness
to the Priest, and the cordiality to the Friend.

•Thank you too for the "Book of Strife." Indeed
I did not possess it, and glancing within I see beauty.
Not that I always like [Dr.] George Macdonald's utter-
ances, but sometimes I do : and even when I do not, the
fault may sometimes (!) be in me and not in him.' —

How quaintly pretty is the turn of this phrase :

* May no wearier weariness beset me than the recog-
nising a handwriting which confers favours.'

What follows is interesting as showing her predilec-
tions with regard to two of Dante Gabriel's pictures,
and also her thoughtfulness for those who needed her
help:

* " Veronica Veronese " is one of my prime favorites,
tho' not so "La Bella Mano." "Beata Beatrix" [pre-
sented some years ago by Lady Mount-Temple to the

122 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

National Gallery] will repay a call in Stanhope St.
some day.

* Since we saw you we have been down at Birchington,
— and now we are hoping wishing that the tomb-
stone and my mother's own window near the porch would
arrive at completion. Mr. Shields has undertaken the
latter, so it is certain to be beautiful at last.

' I am going to beg a favour. It is that you will
harbour not literally in the waste-paper basket but if

possible in your obliging memory the name of Miss .

I do not know her personally, but I do know with
absolute certainty that she is a deserving candidate for
a pension from the Governesses' Benevolent Institution.
The next election is in May. Not that I suppose you
have votes, but you must have so much influence that I
cannot bear to let slip the chance of your being ready to
help by a word should occasion offer.'

To the same correspondent :

March 5.

* Dear Mr. Gurney, — If I may volunteer an opinion I
cannot but think Mr. Watts [-Diinton] will regard your
pamphlet with due interest, and an author's presentation
copy has such an unique value that I will not suggest he
has a second chance of seeing it thro' my brother, —
I would by no means deprive him of his best chance,
otherwise I could — thanks to your kindness — send it him
myself. Very much do we like to hear of your good
will towards " Hand and Soul " ; but none the less we fully
understand the difficulty of finding time for such extra
work, so we must not dwell too fondly on the prospect.
We are very glad to see, and proportionately to you for
showing us, Mr. Ruskin's sympathetic sentence.

. ' I need hardly say with what interest we have read
our friend's article [" The Truth about Rossetti " by Mr.
Watts-Dunton] in the " 19th Century.'"

As to * Mr. Ruskin's sympathetic sentence ' men-
tioned above Mr. Gurney has written to me :

* Mr. Ruskin's letter referred to by Christina Rossetti

HER brother's * HAND AND SOUL ' 12^

was a letter to [Mr.] George Richmond, acknowledging an
essay of mine sent to him by the latter^ in which I
discussed (not at all from the art-critic's point of view)
some of Rossetti's pictures exhibited at Burlington
House. Mr. Richmond and Mr. Ruskin both were good
enough to commend it'

Concerning Mr. Watts-Dunton and her brother's

* Hand and Soul * she wrote :

* Thank you truly for letting us see Mr. Watts [-Dun-
ton's] interesting letter. All that comes from that
Friend is worth our reading, and I ventured to keep the
letter which now I return long enough to show it to my
brother. " Hand and Soul " is rich in beauty and power :
t/taf even my anxious eyes see and admit ; and I hope
others wiser than myself see as you do. Please do not
leave off giving us pleasant surprises from time to time,
disgusted by my density !

* The Mission almost over I trust I may congratulate
you on some response to your loving invitations.'

The following quotation from a letter written by Mr.
Gurney to myself will explain the foregoing allusion to

* Hand and Soul ' :

* Her critical faculty, almost as remarkable perhaps,
though not so rare and precious as her artistic, comes
out in an interesting and characteristic manner in one of
the letters [to himself] about an essay of mine on her
brother's " Hand and Soul " — an essay which I had the
pleasure of reading to her and her mother and Mr. W.
M. Rossetti.'

February 4, 1885.

'Dear Mr. Gurney, — My Mother joins me in thanking
you for the permanent form of your paper on our dear
Gabriel. I waited to receive it before thanking you,
and now I have reread it. How much you see in his
work, and how earnestly do I hope that what you see is
truly there to be seen.

124 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Thank you not least for your beautiful mission
address : may it bear fruit " an hundredfold " —

' Very truly your obliged

* Christina G. Rossetti/

Her comments respecting Wagner's ' Parsifal ' are
individual :

* What shall I say of " Parsifal " ? I will make an
avowal : I would not on any account see it performed.
I should not dare witness such a treatment of such a
subject That it is rich in beauty, charm, I do not doubt, —
in loftiness, I will not question : but I cannot think it
would edify myself

This also is individual :

Saturday.

* Dear Mr. Gumey, — Thank you for prolonged kind
remembrance and for such a charming poem : it conveys
the very sentiment one wants at 55 ! So I venture to
hope that you enter into it a little less deeply than I do,
and that 1886 may fairly bring you a more buoyant joy
than would befit me. I never told you how much I en-
joyed seeing " Time Flies " quoted in one of your Parish
Papers : allow me to tell you so now, remaining as
I do ' [etc.].

With respect to the * charming poem * Mr. Gumey
tells me :

* I cannot remember sending Christina Rossetti any
detached poem. If I did, it was probably one of 2,
both of which are published in my little Christmas
volume — "A Xmas Faggot" — one for New Year's
Eve, the other for New Year's Day (called "The
Victim").'

She could be appreciatively critical respecting a
friend's work :

Friday.

* Dear Mr. Gurney, — It is a pleasure to hear from
you again, and to read and to return the agreeable
" Academy " critique, for which I thank you.

MR. GURNEYS POEMS 1 25

* Nor am I silenced by your condescending appeal to
my taste. As whole poems perhaps my favourites are
*• Bethlehem Gate "— " St. Joseph " : Next if not on a
par with these (I am not certain) the ist and 3rd
" Epiphany " and the " Nunc Dimittis." But then there
are little bits elsewhere by no means to be set low down :
as the stanza beginning * Oftentimes a sleepless infant '
and that strictl)'' lovely line " Love is of loveliness the
root."

* Do you know that our dear friend Mr. Shields is
ill at Brighton ? so at least we heard a day or two ago>
and my mother and I are grieved for him. I find your
" Xmas Faggot " cover is his handiwork. What an
enviable cover.

* Pray receive my Mother's remembrances and let me
trust always to remain * [etc.].

About * The Academy ' critique mentioned in the
foregoing letter Mr. Gurney sends me the following
communication : • •

* I think the critique in " The Academy" was a short
review of the same volume [" A Christmas Faggot "] in
which the writer spoke of me as being powerfully
influenced by D. G. Rossetti, and under his influence
numbered with the mystics, more however on the
spiritual than the aesthetic side.*

This letter of Christmas salutation shows how she
could give freshness to a trite subject by her graceful
and ever present fancy :

December 20.

*Dear Mr. Gurney, — Faggots of wood warm our
hearths, and your " Christmas Faggot " warms our hearts,
my Mother and I sending you back a responsive glow
of good will and good wishes. Thank you for the
taking little volume you devote to your Godchildren : I
hope they themselves will prove an impregnable
" faggot " (according to the old story) bound together by
** the very bond of peace and of all virtUQsJ' .

126 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Thank you most of all for our pleasure in seeing
Gabriers name once more graced by your pen.

* Of course I have dipped and glanced already, but I
have some idea of not reading steadily before Christmas
Day. Not long to wait for now.

* I have pleasure — for it is so pleasant to be thought
of! — in remaining

* Again your obliged

* Christina G. Rossetti/

Here is a glimpse of her habits :

June 6.

* Dear Mr. Gumey, — Thank you for all the kind
thought you take to give us pleasure.

* Your call for any purpose and at any time will be a
favour. I am generally at home. To which circum-
stance please attribute (at least in part) my not having
yielded to the attraction of yoyr Lecture last night, an
attraction to which I was not insensible.

* ... I am glad Mr. Watts [-Dunton] interested
you. He ranks high amongst our friends.*

What follows was written in acknowledgment of a
copy of Mr. Gurney's book * The Story of a Friendship ' :

Christmas 1S93.

*Dear Mr. Gumey, — Thank you indeed for your
" Vita Nuova," sweet and tender and full of regret and
hope. May each Dante join his Beatrice, and each
Beatrice be or become worthy of her Dante.

' This scarcely reads like a Christmas letter until it
offers you my deepest best wishes.

* Always gratefully yours,

Christina G. Rossetti.'

Regarding the foregoing Mr. Gumey has written to
me thus :

*The letter [that dated Christmas 1893] about
Dante and Beatrice is I think a very lovely little bit of
aspiration She was a genius, robed in grace.'

HER HUMOUR IN LETTERS 127

If Christina Rossetti's occasional humour was the
exception that proved the rule it was none the less
present. She could be quietly droll concerning her own
habits as will be seen in this extract from a letter to Mr.
Shields, written probably in 1 888 or 1 889.

* What a kind letter from what a kind friend ! I am
better again, thank you, altho' still subjected to extra
care, and amongst precautions is early bedtime, — but for
this it would seem possible that I might get a glimpse of
you some day. Bedtime however is not so early as to
suppress me before 9 o'clock.'

The following excerpts from letters to Mrs. and Mr.
W. M. Rossetti attest the same quality :

* Please wink at ugliness, as I have lost my pen.'

' Thank you for thinking my austere presence would
be " nice." '

* / am not conspicuously in bloom : — but let us hope
I resemble the trampled chamomile which " yields more
sweets the while — ."

' I fear all 3 stamps are unworthy of Arthur. To
whom and sisters love.

* Your faithful old friend and sister '

* My dear Lucy, — William asked me to dine with
you next Thursday — shall I come? I know that at
times with the kindest good will one guest more is one
too many, and I shall not doubt your kindness if you
frankly tell me it is not convenient

* With loves all round

* Yours always

* W^iHiam conjectured 7 o'clock to be the hour : but if
I like to arrive a little beforetime I think you will wink
at the freedom that is, if you ask me ! *

* My dear Lucy, — Thank you heartily. I was aware
of the fact, and had foreseen the possibility, and am
very glad indeed that your kind thoughtfulness makes

128 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

it easy for me to avoid the difficulty. It happens too
that I am just so unwell at present as to invite me to
keep quiet ; I have had to miss one or two little family
expeditions already.

* Lovingly and gratefully

* Your sister *

* We all unite in a general yes^ with love and thanks —
tho' Aunt Eliza asks for lo minutes law, as she cannot
be quite punctual.

* So till to-morrow — and not merely ////.' —

* Your affec. sister '

* If you think the " Chronicles " not alarmingly dry
for immature Arthur, pray oblige me by securing such
on my account, — unless you achieve some improved
afterthought. I own I do not think they would have
enraptured me at a more advanced age : qu., indeed,
what would happen now ? '

* I hope we shall so soon see you that there is no
need to hammer out a letter. "Certainly not" you
respond alacritously to

* Your aflec. sister

' c. G. r;

* Why waste ink on stating that I am always glad to
sec you ?

* Your destitute — of — news •

C. G. R.
* or at least not regurgitant.'

* Miss Wilson writes : " I am very grateful to Mr.
and Mrs. Rossetti for all their details — please tell them
so " — and thus tell I them, adding my own particular
thanks lot your valuable a^t^en^a — (I hope all those rf's
are right ?).'

* To my regret, the poetry of impulse has been suc-
ceeded by the prose of calculation.'

* I am writing with the paper in my lap, so excuse
degradation. Poor Mr. Turner will, I think, undergo
another paper from me to-morrow, which* transcends my
wits — the paper* I mean.'

-^E^k«U

"!■ i,ni < at^garigpi^a^Bafctwi^irt— — —aapi— w^iB^w^^. "^ ■■ ^

THE DUKE OF CLARENCE 1 29

'Thanks in proportion to my density: I recall to
memory the British farmer who equipped himself for the
Rhine apparently by divesting himself of his wits !

* With returning reason I propose to act thus. Mon-
day or Tuesday (Office days) next, to send 11/6 in
compliance with this demand of my country, asking no
questions and awaiting whatever may next occur. Short
of your vetOy thus I trust to act'

• «.•••«

* Last night I got a few words from Lucy asking me
to send name of Publisher of " Sing Song " to a Book-
seller who failed to unearth that obscure tome. So of
course I did. But thus you see I am groping in an
atmosphere of befogment, and my renown is under
eclipse/

'.*• . '# ■ • ••

* Bye-thc-bye, the other day in the " St James's
Gazette " there appeared a chaffy allusion to " My heart
is like a singing bird " — not ill natured rather amusing,
not naming author.*

• ••...»

* Padrone ! Questa tua casa !

* You are welcome on the most cupboard love terms,
always and every way welcome. You shall have a cup
of tea, and I will show you a book or two if you care to
look at them. . . . Why not always come here on
Shelley nights [meetings of the Shelley Societ>'] ?

* My dear William

* Your affectionate old sister *

* My dear William, — The accompanying 16*' 3*stands
for our share up to January 8, but if you deem yourself
entitled to additional pennies I will honour your view —
my arithmetic is not a prime article.'

When, on January 14, 1892, the death of the Duke of
Clarence was announced, Mr. Patchett Martin, who wa^
at that time editing * Literary Opinion,* asked her to
write a poem on the subject for his next number
(though with considerable diffidence, remembering her

K

130 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

unwillingness to be hurried). At once she consented
verbally and a day or two afterwards, in time for his
February issue, he received one of the most beautiful of
her later poems, * A Death of a Firstborn,' accompanied
by the following little note, dated January 2i :

* I enclose a few lines. Please accept or return them
with absolute freedom.'

She wrote as follows to Mrs. Patchett Martin when
forwarding a receipt for three guineas, her honorarium
for the poem :

Wednesday, February 10, 1892.

* Dear Mrs. Patchett Martin, — Will you kindly hand
the enclosed receipt to Mr. Martin with my thanks for the
handsome cheque. And I thank you especially for the
pleasure of reading Miss Caldecott's letter : you may be
sure I enjoy such verdicts, — yet the being so often "spoken
well of " ought to make me the more wary not to offend.
. . . •* Literary Opinion " has much good in its power.
I am glad to have appeared for once in its pages, but
my pen being partly at the mercy of impulse I can never
count on a second such moment ; and at 61 one can
neither wish nor expect to be as impulsive as at 16 !

* Will you excuse my shabby envelope, but it happens
to be my only one of the right size and shape.*

* Italy's greatest living Novelist' alluded to in what
follows was Signor Verga, author of * Cavalleria
Rusticana ' :

Wednesday, [March 28, 1892.]

* Dear Mr. Patchett Martin, — . . . My best wishes
accompany every effort to send forth high-minded
criticism, and I hope you will be every way happy
in your venture. It is not in my power — at least, not
in conformity with the way in which I have mainly
used such powers as are mine — to promise you original
articles on approval : but if ever you received a " Dante "

* FAINT, YET PURSUING* I3.I

book for review and cared to entrust it to me I would
gladly try my hand on it ; perhaps enthusiasm for my
subject might make up for scant learning.

Miss Helen Zimmern's name I recognise: but I
actually do not know who it is she records as " Italy's
greatest living Novelist ! " — ^so obsolete am I.'

She did not however write on Dante in * Literary
Opinion/

When her poem * Faint, yet Pursuing/ was sent to
her in proof she found, owing to a printer's blunder, that
the tenth line had been omitted ; whereupon she wrote
to Mr. Patchett Martin on April 16, 1892, as follows.
Before returning the proof revised, &c., she had with
great elaboration attended to the indentation. A fac-
simile of this proof is given on p. 132.

* Let us hope that merit will perpetuate the demand
[for Literary Opinion] which curiosity may in part have
initiated.

* Is it conceivable 1 hope it is inconceivable that I

sent you a 13 line Sonnet ! ! My rough copy assures me
that it was not so written. I dare say you will make
sure that the missing line is properly put in ; and perhaps
you will not deem unworthy of revision the inning' and
outing of both pieces. I hope I have not overlooked any
error/

Having been desired to contribute the article re-
specting Tudor House, (quoted from at p. 134), she
writes to Mr. Patchett Martin on May 6, 1892 :

* I do not feel myself the proper person to review D. G.
R.'s " Dante and his Circle," and very likely might break
down even over some other writer on a kindred subject
as 1 am not an expert in such articles. Have I any
associations with the old Cheyne Walk House ? Indeed
1 have, some of them very agreeable : if I succeed in jot-
ting ?tny thing down to any purpose I shall feel disposed

K 2

132 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

« FAINT, ITT PURSUING."

«

I.

B«jrond this shadow and thii turbulent lea,

Shadow of death and turbulent sea of death.
Lies all we long to have or long to be :— ^

Take heart, tired man, toil on with lessening breath. V>^
Laj vblent hands on heafen'a high treasury, ^

Be what yon long to be thro' life-long scathe :
A little while hope leans on charity,

A little while charity heartens faith. ^

A little while ; and then what further while ? ^

For ever new whilst evermore the same :

All things made new bear each a sweet new name ;

Blan's lot of death has turned to life his lot.

And tearful charity to love's own smile.

•^

X

' 2 Press onward, quickened souls, who mounting move,

3 Press onward, upward, fire with mounting fire ;

Gathering volume of untold desire
-^ / Press upward, homeward, dove with mounting dove*

f Point me the excellent way that leads above ;

S Woo me with sequent will me too to aspire ; /^

y With sequent heart to follow higher and higher,

'^ Mm To follow all who follow on to love a /TJ

M Up the high steep, across the golden till, ^/

/J Up out of shadows into very light, /

j^ Up out of dwindling life to life aglow,

I watch you, my beloved, out of sight ;~>
Sight fails me, and my heart is watching still .
My heart (ails, yet I follow on to know.

(

Chbisthia G. Roesicrn.
[Facsimile op Proof op Sonnets * Faint, Yet P'jksuinc']

ARTICLE ON TUDOR HOUSE 1 33

to submit my reminiscences to you in case you should
care for such text to accompany Miss Thomas's draw-
ing.

' The May " L.O.," thank you, came duly to hand and
certified me of the correct issue of my 2. I am glad you
approve of them.*

* My 2 * alludes of course to the two sonnets • Faint,
yet Pursuing' mentioned above. Miss Margaret
Thomas, who illustrated the article by a woodcut, is
best known by her bust of Henry Fielding at Taunton.

The extracts immediately succeeding, from letters
addressed to Mr. Patchett Martin, written in May 1892,
refer to the a,rticle on Tudor House. The ' bracketed
clause' was the Italian poem, beginning 'O Uommi-
batto,' given below :

* Please do not delay the woodcut on my account :
the trifle I hope to submit to you will 1 trust be in
your hands next week, very possibly on Monday. If
you can supersede it by something better, pray do.
For I feel myself not the right person to write " Rossetti "
articles, only this matter of the house seemed unobjec-
tionable.

* So many portraits of D. G. R. have appeared that I
know not whether you would easily find a fresh one. I
wonder if a sketch of the Drinking Fountain associated
with Tudor House might sufficiently interest some of
your readers ?

' Here is the slight sketch we projected, in case you
may judge it to be worth appending to the drawing.
You will notice that I have conspicuously bracketed
one clause : possibly it is too irrelevant to the matter
in hand, or possibly space will run short : in either
event it can be excised by merely concluding what
precedes it by a *. It is such a long time since I
last saw Tudor House that perhaps my hints as to
its actual outside appearance are no longer correct : Miss
Thomas will oblige me if she considers this point.

134 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

*I think my note of Saturday answered other
suggestions in your last kind letter, and I should not
wonder if in truth you agreed with me that I am not the
fit person for a Rossetti tome/

An extract from Christina's remarks descriptive of
Tudor House during Dante Gabriel's tenancy may
suitably be reproduced here, more especially as the
article has not been reprinted.

* There were, as has often been stated, various crea-
tures, quaint or beautiful, about the house and grounds,
some of them at liberty. I particularly recall Bobby — a
little owl with a very large face and a beak of a sort of
egg-shell green ; a woodchuck, a deer, and a wombat,
nameless, or of name unknown to me. Gabriel (his
family never called him Dante, Gabriel being indeed his
first Christian name), was amused by some lines I wrote
on that wombat : —

O Uommibatto

Agil, giocondo,
Che ti sei fatto

Liscio e rotondo !
Deh non fuggire

Qual vagabondo,
Non disparire

Forando il mondo :
Pesa dawero

D'un emisfero
Noil lieve il pondo.

But far from " liscio " the wombat turned out rough, and
I altered 1. 4 to : — " Irsuto e tondo."

* With such inhabitants, Tudor House and its grounds
became a sort of wonderland ; and once the author of
" Wonderland " photographed us in the garden. It was
our aim to appear in the full family group of five ; but
whilst various others succeeded, that particular negative
was spoilt by a shower, and I possess a solitary print
taken from it in which we appear as if splashed by ink.

* Allowing for long lapse of years and consequent
possible defects of memory, such as these are my recol-

iFrem a fkiltfrafk, nmi I'a Hi toiitttiHH of Mr. W. M. Rnitlli, lakii hj

• Lrwii CarTtU'iKtv. Chmrla LuH-idfi Dedftn) iW llu e'rdtn •/

TmJmr UiMir, ■« Clujiu Walt, CktUn, Irwardt 1663.)

PHOTOGRAPH BY * LEWIS CARROLL ' 1 35

lections of happy days when family or friendly parties
used to assemble at Tudor House there to meet with an
unfailing affectionate welcome. Gloom and eccentricity
such as have been alleged were at any rate not the sole
characteristics of Dante Gabriel Rossetti : when he chose
he became the sunshine of his circle, and he frequently
chose so to be. His ready wit and fun amused us ; his
good nature and kindness of heart endeared him to us.'

By the kindness of Mr. W. M. Rossetti, a photograph
of Christina and her mother taken by * Lewis Carroll *
(Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), one of those which
* succeeded ' as mentioned above, is reproduced to face
this page.

136 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER V

BIOGRAPHICAL — {continiud)
(Mainly 1893- 1894)

Her appearance — Wishes to remove to neighbourhood of R^[ent's Park —
Reminiscences of London — Mr. Watts-Dunton's and Mr. W. >r.
Rossetti's remarks respecting her attitude towards animals — Description
of 3oTorrington Square — Habits of work — Her handwriting — Her books
— Her drawing-room — The garden of Torrington Square — Mr. Shields
as artist — His Good Shepherd — Mrs. Gamett, Miss Lisa Wilson — Her
goddaughter, Miss Ursula Hake — Her opinion as to cremation — Her
political proclivities — Her consciousness of evils in our social system —
Her practical habits — Her appreciation of poetry — Her reading ot
poetry — Her admiration of Augusta Webster's drama * The Sentence,'
and of Jean Ingelow — Personal habits — Her voice— Her household —
Prayers — Her attitude towards music — Christ Church, Woburn Square
— Increasing illness — Relinquishes attendance at church — Dr. Stewart —
Dr. Abbot Anderson— Closing days — Her aspect after death— Spiritual
disquietude towards the end — Widespread regret occasioned by her
death — Letter from the Bishop of Durham to Mr. W. M. Rossetti — Her
funeral — Preliminary service Christ Church, Woburn Square — Highgate
Cemetery — Mr. Theodore Watts [-Dunton's] * Two Christmastides * —
Memorial service.

I SHALL never forget Christina Rossetti's appearance
when first 1 called upon her. She gave me the impres-
sion of being tall : I thought then, as I do still, that none
of her portraits sufficiently indicate the commanding
breadth of her brow. She looked unquestionably a
woman of genius, and it is not every woman or man of
genius that so looks. Her voice attracted me at once :
never before had I heard such a voice. It was intensely
musical, but its indefinable charm arose not alone from

HER APPEARANCE 1 37

that cause ; it arose in a large measure from what Mr.
Watts-Dunton has aptly called her * clear-cut method
of syllabification/ — a peculiarity which he thinks, no
doubt rightly, attributable to her foreign lineage. Indi-
cations of her foreign lineage were very noticeable on
the occasion I am describing. Not of course that it was
discernible in accent, nor even in mere tone or inflexion
of voice, certainly it was not markedly observable either
in her modes of speech or in her ideas. It was something
assuredly there, but, like many of the things we perceive
with life's subtler perceptions, it eluded precise definition.
Perhaps the nearest approach to an illustration of my
meaning would be to say that the effect produced was
as though a highly educated foreigner, thoroughly ac-
quainted with the grammar and the vocabulary of the
English language, were to speak English, and continue
to do so for years, although English was not his mother
tongue. No one, I think, can fully understand Chris-
tina's many-sided personality without taking into account
that foreign origin, and there can be no doubt that under
some circumstances the blending of races has much to
do with the possession of certain gifts.

Demurely attired in a black silk dress she wore
no ornaments of any sort, and the prevailing sombre
tint was only relieved by some simple white frilling
at the throat and wrists. Her hair, still abundant, had
by this time a hue which was almost black, and the
intermingled grey strands, though visible, were not
conspicuous. Her cap, of some dark material, was
extremely plain and unobtrusive.

It has often struck me that one of the great tests
of genius is whether the writer or speaker deals with
ordinary subjects in such a manner as to reveal his or

138 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

her own personality. For both in literature and con-
versation the manner is much. And if this be true
then both on the day to which I am at present alluding
and on every subsequent occasion when I saw her,
Christina Rossetti talked like a woman of genius.
Naturally at our first meeting the conversation was on
ordinary subjects. Yet it lives with me still because of
her incomparable manner and the distinction of her
phraseology. I may add that she conversed in that
calm measured way which, I fancy, often conceals real
shyness. In Mr. Sharp's able article before referred to
he describes vividly his first meeting with her at an
earlier date than that to which I allude : —

* In some ways she reminded me of Mrs. Craik, the
author of "John Halifax, Gentleman " ; that is, in the
Quaker-like simplicity of her dress, and the extreme
and almost demure plainness of the material, with, in
her mien, something of that serene passivity which has
always a charm of its own. She was so pale as to
suggest anaemia, though there was a bright and alert
look in her large and expressive azure-gray eyes, a
colour which often deepened to a dark, shadowy, velvety
gray ; and though many lines were imprinted on her
features, the contours were smooth and young. Her
hair, once a rich brown, now looked dark, and was
thickly threaded with solitary white hairs, rather than
sheaves of gray. She was about the medium height of
women, though at the time I thought her considerably
shorter. With all her quietude of manner and self-
possession there was a certain perturbation from this
meeting with a stranger, though one so young and
unknown. I noted the quick, alighting glance, its swift
withdrawal ; also the restless, intermittent fingering of
the long, thin double watch-guard of linked gold which
hung from below the one piece of colour she wore, a
quaint, old-fashioned bow of mauve or pale purple
ribbon, fastening a white frill at the neck.'

30 TORRINGTON SQUARE 1 39

In one of his family letters Dante Gabriel expressed
much surprise that his mother and sister would continue
to reside in Torrington Square at a rental of 100 guineas
per annum/ which he regarded as exceptionally high,
when they could elsewhere obtain at a less rental, even
in London or in the immediate vicinity, a house more
convenient, and probably with a garden. And I
cannot but think that, in making this remark, the poet-
painter gave a proof of that strong practical common-
sense which, when allied to great imaginative power,
is itself an evidence of genius. In truth the house
seemed hardly the most suitable for his sister. She
herself came to think so, even in the last year of her
life, and when I called upon her so late as June 5, 1894,
she told me with her usual cheerfulness of manner that
she had determined to leave it at the follavving
Michaelmas. She remarked further, that when she had
come to live at 30 Torrington Square eighteen years
before, there had been * quite a large family,* and now
there was only herself, and the house was ' mostly shut
up.' Her intention, as stated to me, was then to
take a little house in or near the Regent's Park, if
possible with a garden, and in close proximity to No. 3
St. Edmund's Terrace, as she wished to see more of her
brother and of his family. In relation to this prpject
her brother informs me :

' After Lticy's [Mrs. W. M. Rossetti's] death on April
12 1894 there was some suggestion on my part that
C[hristina] sh** become an inmate of my house 3 St.
Edmund's Terrace, but that did not seem really feasible
— I then proposed to her whether she would like to take

' y$ift Danie Gabriel Kossttti: His Family Letters^ with a Memoir^
P- 343-

140 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

the house No. i [St. Edmund's Terrace] vacated b}"
Madox Brown's death.'

In response to this * suggestion ' Christina wrote to
him on a postcard, postmarked * April 21. 1894 ' •

* Thank you for your post card received yesterday,
but short of the solace of amalgamating with yourself,
such a house would be both too large & too expensive.'

On my calling again, shortly after June 5 of the same
year, she told me that her physician, Dr. Stewart, impera-
tively forbade any project of removal with its inevitable
attendant inconveniences in her present state of health.
So it came about that the project was abandoned, and
that her last days were spent in Torrington Square.

Sometimes in conversation she would give me vivid
reminiscences of the changed aspect of London. Once,
I remember, she gave me a full account of a walk she
had taken in early days — I think about 1852-3 — to visit
Mr. and Mrs. Coventry Patmore then living in Kentish
Town in a house they had taken over from her uncle,
Mr. Henry Polydore. Kentish Town was then still rural,
and the stroll quite partook of the character of a countr>'
walk, though perhaps it ought to be added that (as I
am informed by Mr. William Rossetti) their residence
was in a district of Kentish Town a * long way up which
might almost be termed Highgate Rise.' When Kentish
Town was reached, other friends were met, and there
was a further walk in the fields, Mr. (now Dr.) Richard
Garnett being of the party. She had clear recollections
of Regent's Park as it was in earlier days before it was
railed in as at present. There was one nook in it
presenting to her childish eyes some of the features of a
cavern, of which she was especially fond. She also

HER LOVE OV ALL ANIMALS I4I

remembered wild flowers in a secluded place close to
where there is now a railway tunnel. Miss Proctor, in an
interesting brochure entitled *. A Brief Memoir of Chris-
tina G. Rossetti/ tells us that the impulse for the beautiful
lines beginning

I wonder if the spring-tide of this year

Will bring another spring both lost and dear ;

came to her when walking in the outer circle of Regent's
Park, and to . the last her memories of that locality
seemed always pleasurable — a fact not to be wondered at
For even yet there are spots in it which present as much
quiet, almost sylvan beauty as is to be found in any part
of London.

Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton has well said about
Christina that she spoke of wild animals * sometimes as
though they were human beings and sometimes as though
they were fairies.' Indeed there is no doubt that her atti-
tude towards animals had something very remarkable
in it. She had a predilection for all animals — even
mice not being thought of with disfavour. But any
animal which was closely associated with her seemed to
be viewed, in some sense, as a friend by her. She was
much attached to * MuflF,' her cat, and when she found
that I was not unsympathetic in this matter she talked
to me a good deal respecting ' MufFs ' habits, revealing
keen observation in everything she said. She was
gratified when I saluted * Muff,' and used to exclaim :
* How condescending you are to that pussy.' Once
she remarked : * Like ourselves, creatures have their
friends.'

I remember that Christina once said to me in her
gentle way, * Perhaps you go into the country in August
to kill something ? '

142 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* I never go into the country to kill anything/ I
answered.

I shall not cease to remember what pleasure she
showed in my avowal. It was as though she had been
inclined to take back the gift of her friendship had she
found that I really went * into the country to kill some-
thing/ and was relieved to find that she was not obliged
to do so.

Number thirty Torrington Square, Bloomsbury,
where Christina had lived since 1876, in nowise diflfered in
external aspect from many thousands of other houses
in the same part of London. Torrington Square is
really oblong in shape, and according to Mr. Sharp,
Dante Gabriel used to call it * Torrington Oblong.*
Probably the ordinary dull-coloured bricks used for so
many London houses were employed for the erection of
Christina's home. But Time, weather, and soot had so
completely done their work that it was impossible to
know precisely what the original colour had been. The
house, of three storeys above the ground floor, appeared
even higher than it was on account of its narrowness.
The small windows were of a usual shape. The front
door, slightly raised above the level of the square, was
approached by stone steps. There was the inevitable
area (which, however,* served one useful purpose in
giving apparently excellent light to a pleasant-looking
kitchen window), and the hardly less inevitable verandah,
opening from the first floor.

The entrance-hall was narrow, and had on the left
the room which had once been the dining-room and
coilcerning which I am about to speak more fully. The
staircase was not steeper than was to be anticipated in
such a house. From a window on the half landing (the

HER DINING-ROOM I43

small yard space behind could hardly be termed a
back garden) a glimpse was obtainable of one or two
plane-trees. Several pieces of old furniture, some of it
Chippendale, were scattered through the rooms. The
drawing-room, immediately over the dining-room, was
comparatively spacious, and always struck mc as being
not only the largest, but, by far, the most cheerful room
in the house. It also had a bedroom behind it There
were no other sitting-rooms. The narrow cntrance-halU
with decoration and wall paper somewhat faded in
appearance, calls for no especial mention. The plain-
ness and simplicity — almost the bareness of the fur-
niture and appointments in the dining-room were
however relieved by one or two objects of interest, such
as a letter-weight designed by Benedetto Sangiovanni
mentioned previously. There were also several family
pictures, but not of such importance as those in the
drawing-room to be mentioned hereafter. At the time
of which I speak the little room behind the dining-room
was arranged as a bedroom, though, somewhat earlier,,
it had been Christina's sitting-room.

The bareness of furniture in the dining-room was
accounted for by the fact that the room had ceased to
be used for dining. In or about 1887 it had become
the bedroom of Miss Eliza Polidori, who from that date
was mostly bed-ridden. On that lady's death in June
1893, (subsequent to which date my description of the
house must be understood to apply) it was arranged
once more as a sitting-room. But, as a matter of fact, it
was unused except by the servants who were allowed
by their mistress to use it whenever convenient to
themselves.

I have always felt that when houses are inhabited

144 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

by persons of marked idiosyncrasy, or, it may be of
genius, they acquire in some inexplicable way some of
the characteristics of their occupants. And in using the
word characteristics, I mean something far more subtle
and indefinable in words than can be brought about by
any mere material arrangements which are of course
entirely dictated by the convenience or by the caprice of
the inhabitants. And never has this feeling qome upon
me more strongly than in respect to Christina Rossetti's
residence. About much of her best work there is a
quietude, a controlled and well-ordered sadness (gloom
would not be the correct term), and I trust I shall not
be deemed unduly fanciful when I say that I seemed to
feel a like atmosphere whenever I entered her abode. I
forgot the prosaic character of my external surroundings ;
I forgot the whirl of the streets ; I forgot even the com-
parative lack of silence in the square itself I seemed
to have passed into an atmosphere of rest and of peace.
Her work with all its noble — its unsurpassed qualities,
with all its faults too, was her own. It was original, it
was unborrowed. She was too great a writer even to be
* bookish.* Her impulse to write was spontaneous, it
came from the deeps of her own soul, it was not derived
even in the most perfectly justifiable and noblest sense
from the achievements of others. Hence it was probably
that, though none valued really great books more than
she, books were not conspicuous in her home. She did
not require them as tools. She had no room set apart
and arranged for a study. I am told by an intimate
friend that in her mother's lifetime she did much of her
writing — wrote many of her lovely poems descriptive of
Nature — in the small upper back bedroom whose only
outlook was to the tall dingy walls of adjacent houses.

METHOD OF LITERARY WORK 1 45

Afterwards, as Mr. W. M. Rossetti informs me, she wrote
whatever she wrote in her drawing-room. In truth her
inner vision was so keen that she was well-nigh inde-
pendent of external influences.

She was always reticent respecting her habits of
work or methods of composition, and even to her in-
timate friends sought to avoid reference even to her
published work. Rarely has there been an instance of
high poetic genius so spontaneous in character. As
will be seen by examples I cite in subsequent chapters
she did occasionally recast passages. Nevertheless the
statement about her work which I am about to quote
from Mr. Glendinning Nash, her friend and clergyman,
is substantially correct. Mr. Nash says in a private
letter to me, which I am permitted to quote :

* Christina Rossetti told me that there were times
when the power to write had apparently passed away,
and at others she wrote for hours with no mental effort
or fatigue. The poetic flow was spontaneous and often
she wrote on themes which she had not previously
decided to write on. She seldom revised her work.'

Her brother William has himself written about her
in this connection :

' Christina's habits of composition were eminently of
a spontaneous kind. I question whether she ever once
deliberated with herself whether or not she would write
something or other, and then, having thought out a sub-
ject, proceeded to treat it in regular spells of work.
Instead of this, something impelled her feelings, or
" came into her head," and her hand obeyed the dicta-
tion. I suppose she scribbled the lines off rapidly
enough, and afterwards took whatever amount of pains
she deemed requisite for keeping them right in form and
expression — for she was quite conscious that a poem
demands to be good in execution, as well as genuine in

146 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

impulse ; but, (strange as it may seem to say so of a
sister who, up to the year 1876, was almost constantly
in the same house with me), I cannot remember ever
seeing her in the act of composition. (I take no count
here of the bouts rimis sonnets of 1848.) She consulted
nobody, and solicited no advice, though it is true that
with regard to her published volumes — or at any rate
the first two of them — my brother volunteered to point
out what seemed well adapted for insertion, and what
the reverse, and he found her a very willing recipient of
his monitions.'

Since Christina's death Mr. Shields has told me that
he thinks, before she wrote a poem, she shut her ^y^s^
and called up all the scene — especially all the natural
objects in it.

She began to compose verses, as we have seen, in
April 1842. From that time until about 1866, when she
published her ' Prince s Progress and Other Poems,' her
pieces were copied into note-books by her sister Maria
until November 17, 1847, ^"d thenceforward by herself,
the date of composition being given in each case. These
note-books, small and very neat, are variously bound in
green, red, and black leather. From 1866 she discon-
tinued the practice of writing in note-books and after-
wards generally wrote on ruled blue paper, often quarto
size.

Christina's handwriting is an interesting study. At
the age of eighteen (as will be observed from the fac-
simile of the original MS. of the lovely song * When I
am Dead, my Dearest ' appearing at p. 147) it was clear
and small, but essentially characterless. Subsequently,
while continuing equally legible, it became strong and
full of character, and did not, like the handwriting of so
many literary workers, deteriorate. Mr. Shields, when
conversing with me, once advanced the plausible theor>-

* WHEN I AM DEAD, MY DEAREST ' 147

'/<- -^Z. Aue-cn- A/kJt^ ^t^^^-p.^

/J^^^A(Um^^!eA^/M29.

Facsimile ok the MS. ok the Song ' When- I am Dead

MV Dearest '] '

I. 2

f+8 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

that Christmas handwriting^ grew in evidence of
strength as gradually she became consdoos of her own
powers. Certainly it remained strong and full of
character even after her last illness had become serious,
as two examples in my own possesion, written as late
as August 1S94, deariy show. Then it became sbaky^
and probably about the end of September 1S94 she
ceased to write, her last attempt to sign a cheque, made
towards November lotii of that 3^ar, being quite illegibicL

On entering the room which had once been the
dining-room one saw to the left and near the window
a small bookcase of some plain inexpenshre wood. It
contained only a few books. Many were novels, and
these were mostly English classics, Scott and Maria
Edgeworth, for instance, and Dickens.

In a s^r-mpathetic essay» contributed to ^ The Bookman '
soon after her death, Katfaerine Tynan >;Mrs. Hinkson),
after saying how fond Christina was of Mrs. Gaskell's
" Cranford/ goes on to tell how

" when she found I had not read it she pressed upon me
her own copy, an old one bound in the original brown
cloth, and with an inscription^ "* from her affectionate
undc." '

In the drawing-room ^the only ^tting-room used by
Christina Rossetti after the death of Eliza Polidori)
there were two bookcases^ Manv of the volumes were
religious and devotional, though by no means all ; but it
should be understood, as her brother informs me, that

' Christina's library consisted scarcely at all of books of
her own choosing — certainly not one volume in twenty —
they were principally her mother s books/

* Id his work on the philosophy of huldwntiiig Mr. John H. Ixigmn has
givra a carefal analysis of her caDigriphy hssed on a mixmte exsminatioa.

HER DRAWING-ROOM 1 49

The drawing-room, lit by two cheerful large windows
overlooking the square, always impressed one as the
most agreeable room in the house. On entering it one
saw in the centre of the wall on the left hand the
chalk drawing of Christina by Dante Gabriel, done in
1 866, elsewhere referred to. Opposite to it at the
' other side of the room, and over the chimney-piece, was
a most beautiful portrait of her mother also by Dante
Gabriel. This picture was flanked on either side by
portraits of Dante Gabriel and William, while on the
same wall, but hanging further from the window, was a
portrait in oils of that Dr. Polidori who was Byron\s
physician. This picture is now in the National Portrait
Gallery. On the table was an Empire enamel and
ormolu inkstand of delicate workmanship which had been
in her family for three generations. After her death it
was given by her brother to Mr. Theodore Watts-
Dunton as a fitting memorial of old friendship.

Close to one of the windows, and opposite to the
door, was a miniature glass-house containing ferns. These
particular ferns were especial favourites, and as long as
she was able to do anything, she saw to them herself.
Doubtless due to the care lavished upon them they were
excellent specimens when their somewhat artificial mode
of existence is borne in mind. They have now passed into
the possession of her brother, who hopes to be as suc-
cessful as his sister in their cultivation.

Unlike her friend, the late Dr. Littledale, who though
passionately fond of flowers in the abstract, was
compelled by a curious physical disability — he turned
faint in any room with flowers— to banish them from
his chambers, she was not only fond of flowers but
much appreciated their presence in the rooms she

150 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

inhabited. In a letter quoted by Miss Proctor, Christina
says : —

* As I no longer go to the country from time to
time, I may say the country very graciously comes to
me, for friends send or bring me flowers.'

She expressed always particular pleasure in receiving
flowers from her friends, often remarking when I brought
some : ' It is delightful to get flowers which one knows
have not been bought, which are from a garden, and
therefore really fresh.'

As a centre picture, on the wall facing the drawing-
room window, was the copy of the autotype of Mr.
Shields's lovely drawing which, under the circumstances
previously alluded to, had been given by the artist to
her mother. On either side were photographs of Dante
Gabriel's * Hamlet * and Ophelia ' and ' Cassandra.' It will
be remembered that to bring out the significance of the
last named, Dante Gabriel wrote two sonnets. Christina
Rossetti's couch (on which she usually lay during the
last year of her life, scarcely rising even when visitors
were announced) was generally placed near to, and in
full view of 'The Good Shepherd,' by Mr. Shields.
Often, however, on summer evenings, it was wheeled
clobcr to the windows which, facing the west, admitted
the afternoon sun. Mr. W. M. Rossetti reminds me that

* one of the features of the drawing-room was a rather
elaborate glass chandelier for candles — bought by Gabriel,
— say towards 1864, and given to his mother, I suppose
in 1876 — When there was a strong low sun the pendants
of this chandelier made extremely vivid prism reflections
on the walls and door.'

* ' Hamlet and Ophelia ' and ' Cassandra ' are fully described by Mr.
Sharp at pp. 198-9 and 171, respectively, of his exhaustive monograph
Dante Gabriel Rossetti^ a Record and a Study,

TORRINGTON SQUARE 151

Sometimes, when the warmth of the weather per-
mitted the opening of the windows, when the noise in
the square was hushed, and the deepening shadows
of twilight obscured the too near view of the houses
opposite while bringing into yet stronger relief the out-
lines of several graceful trees in the foreground of the
garden of the square, the outlook from her drawing-room
became attractive, almost picturesque. Thus it was, I
remember, when once I called, somewhat later than my
wont, to take her some flowers, and the memory of that
evening lingers particularly in my mind because of her
especial kindness to me. The weather was warm, and
she was reclining on the sofa by the open drawing-room
window. She spoke to me anew about the effect the
garden at Holmer Green had had on her young imagin-
ation. She talked also of her uncle, Dr. Polidori, and
told me how disappointed his parents were when he
announced his intention to travel with Lord Byron.
They thought that in adopting this course, he was doing
badly for himself ; he ought instead to have taken up a
practice that offered at Norwich. A few minutes before
seeing Christina Rossetti I had left a somewhat large
literary * at home,' and though this was far from being
unenjoyable in its own way, I was struck more than
usually by the contrast of the scene I had just quitted,
and die serenity, the assured peace, which seemed to
dwell around her.

Under ordinary conditions the garden of Torrington
Square, enclosed in its prim and somewhat sooty iron
railings, looked by no means inviting. It is therefore
worth remarking, as an additional instance of Christina's
habitual contentment even under circumstances which
many people would have deemed depressing, that more

152 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

than once (when no longer able to walk further) she
expressed to me the satisfaction she had felt in walking
for a few minutes in this garden supported on the arm
of her nurse, Miss (generally styled Mrs.) Read.

One afternoon in the summer of 1894 I called at
Torrington Square. I saw by her appearance and learnt
incidentally from her words (she never, except on one
occasion to be named hereafter, directly alluded to her
sufferings), that in all respects she was worse in body
than I had ever before seen her, although her cheerful
composure was entirely unshaken. The conversation
turned upon Mr. Shields and his work, arising, if my
remembrance be correct, from my having praised ' The
Good Shepherd.' She said what pleasure she felt at
my praise of her friend, adding : * That is the only
representation of the subject I ever saw which brings to
my mind at all adequately my conception of it' Then,
with the warmth of appreciation not unfrequently her
wont in speaking of those who formed her inner circle^
she spoke with affection of Mr. Shields, gave utterance
to her high opinion of his genius as a painter — especially
as a religious painter — and ended : ' You see he does
not treat sacred themes merely as an artist ; they are
part of his life. They are part of his life in a way that
I have never known them to be of any other artist, and
that is one cause of his marvellous power.* I remarked
that the contemplation of such a picture must solace her
in hours of pain and weariness, and she said it did.

Christina, in spite of her being somewhat of a recluse,
or perhaps the more so because she was somewhat of
a recluse, was a keen judge of character. Her own
character, if sweetened and purified by the discipline of
life, was also strengthened. Although she never used

" K ' ■^^■^■^^'^^■^■P^^^^^^J

MRS. GARNETT — MISS LISA WILSON 1 53

a harsh word about anyone, she was well able to discrimi-
nate between those she liked and those for whom she
did not care.

Probably the best piece of character-drawing in all
her writings is to be found in the brief poem called ' A
Sketch ' which first appears in her * New Poems * ;

The blindest buzzard that I know

Does not wear wings to spread and stir ;
Nor does my special mole wear fur,

And grub among the roots below :
He sports a tail indeed, but then
It's to a coat ; he's man with men :

• • • • •

My blindest buzzard that I know
My special mole, when will you see ?
Oh no, you must not look at me,

.....

. . since your eyes are blind, you'd say,
* Where ? What? ' and turn away.

15 August 1864.

Her sympathy in the highest sense of the term was
universal, for she was quick to perceive the good in all.
But it never degenerated into the maudlin weakness
which is the attendant danger of sympathy. Gentleness
was a quality she admired much, and of one friend, Mrs.
Garnett, whose ministrations she valued greatly in her last
illness, she said to me once : * I like her, she is so gentle.'
Christina Rossetti was also very grateful for the frequent
presence during the same period of Miss Lisa Wilson,*
the ' Fior-di-Lisa * of her lovely poem with that title.

' Since Christina Rossetti's death Miss Lisa Wilson has published a
volume of Verses dedicated to * her sweet and gracious memory ' which
conclusively establishes Miss Wilson's own right to rank among lyrical
poets.

154 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Her analysis of motives — her discernment between
the apparent and the real is well brought out in her
little essay in 'Time Flies' under date of May 22
respecting an English traveller in Sicily who is every-
where treated with great hospitality and courtesy. At
one mansion however, although waited upon with every
politeness by a * depressed staff of domestics/ he * arrived '
and * departed * ' unwelcomed ' by the family.

* He lacked nothing save a welcome.'

* This treatment left upon him a gloomy impression.
How should meat, drink, shelter suffice and solace an
unwelcomed guest ?

* Yet afterwards he saw cause to revise and reverse
his estimate, becoming aware that the undemonstrative
family who had harboured him laboured at that very
time under the anxiety of a bitter grief Rejoice with
him they could not, burden him with a share of their
own misery they would not ; all that they had to
give they gave, and hid from their guest an irremediable
sorrow.

* How often we judge unjustly when we judge harshly.
The fret of temper we despise may have its rise in the
agony of some great, unflinching, unsuspected, self-
sacriflce, or in the sustained strain of self-conquest, or
in the endurance of unavowed, almost intolerable pain.

* Whoso judges harshly is sure to judge amiss.'

Touching this quotation from * Time Flies ' her
brother tells me that

'the allusion must be to Edward Lear (author of
" Book of Nonsense " etc.) who travelled in Calabria, and
who, in his book about the travels makes some state-
ment of the kind — Christina liked his book much towards
1855, finding it full of genial Italian character-drawing
and amusement'

He adds, about another topic :

MISS URSULA HAKE 1 55

* I do nt)t consider that C[hristina] was particularly-
fond of children — In early youth certainly not. As she
advanced in years she enjoyed them and their pretty or
quaint ways, but still not to any extent comparable to
what marks a multitude of women.'

Writing to her brother William under date of March
10, 1887, from Torquay, she says :

' The George Hakes have a little son and it is said
that my small Ursula [her goddaughter] on seeing him
said " Guy, Guy." '

And again, at a later date from London :

* In talking the other day I never recollected to speak
of little Ursula's Bible. If without its being troublesome
you could and would oblige me by procuring it at the
S.P.C.K. shop, Northumberland Avenue, I should be
much pleased. I want a ^ood print one with references
and Apocrypha, really well bound ; and for such a
child should prefer a cheerful binding (red for instance)
if there is a choice, but this is of no consequence. So
when (D. V.) I see you next Wednesday if you have
not seen about it I will set you free from the request ;
for although I should in itself prefer your selection, I
can get the Bible otherwise.'

Apropos of a friend's funeral she wrote to her
brother William :

* It was a relief to me to infer from the newspaper
report that cremation had been forborne,'

and in elucidation of the above remark the same
gentleman has written to me :

' There seems to be an unmeaning superstition among
strict Church-people (I found it so once when speaking
to my Mother) that cremation is a device of anti-
Christians, to discredit " the resurrection of the body."
C[hristina] must have shared this prejudice more or
less.'

156 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

In relation to his sister's political proclivities he has
written as follows :

* My sister knew and cared next to nothing about
party politics (apart from questions having a religious,
bearing) ; in all her later years, however, her feeling
leaned more towards the Conservative than the Liberal
cause.'

She felt most keenly as to some of the evils in our
social system, and wrote thus eloquently in • The Face
of the Deep ' on Revelation xviii. 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 :

' '' 15. The merchants of these things, which were
made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of
her torment, weeping and wailing.

^ '' 16. And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that
was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and
decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls !

' " 17. For in one hour so great aches is come to
nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company
in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea^
stood £^ar off,"

* This desolation which we have not yet seen must
one day be seen. Meanwhile we have known preludes,
rehearsals, foretastes of such as this : so that looking
back through the centuries we may take up our lamen-
tation and say : —

* Alas Sodom once full of bread ! From empty fulness,
good Lord, deliver us.

* Alas Tyre whose merchants were princes ! From
riches but not toward God, good Lord, deliver us.

* Alas the man whose barns sufficed not ! From heart
and hands shut close, good Lord, deliver us.

* Alas Dives clothed in purple and fine linen ! From
remediless destitution, good Lord, deliver us.

* And looking forward we may say : —

* Alas any whom the unknown day and hour find
unprepared ! From the folly of the foolish virgins, good
Lord, deliver us.

* And looking around us trembling we needs must
say: —

THE EVILS OF OUR SOCIAL SYSTEM 1 57

•Alas England full of luxuries and thronged by
stinted poor, whose merchants are princes and whose
dealings crooked, whose packed storehouses stand amid I
bare homes, whose gorgeous array has rags for neigh- 1
bours ! From a canker in our gold and silver, from a
moth in our garments, from blasted crops, from dwindling
substance, from righteous retribution abasing us among {
the nations, good Lord, deliver us. Amen.

' " 18. And cried when they saw the smoke of her
burning, saying. What city is like unto this great city ! '

' If any shipmasters and crews, sailors and sea-traders,
have yet to lament and quake, well may arrogant
England amid her seas quake and lament betimes.

* " What city is like unto this great city ! " — Like what
•she was, like what she is : her present tallying with her
past

* For purposes of probation height and depth are at
once distinguishable and continuous: man, the proba-
tioner set midway between these extremities, has it
within his option to reclaim either from the other.
Probation over, height and depth, whilst still of two
aspects, will yet form one evidently undivided sequence ;
to the summit or to the base of which consummated
man has worked his way. And why not all the baptised
to the summit ? " Ye did run well ; who did hinder you
that ye should not obey the truth?"

' " 19. And they cast dust on their heads, and
cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that
great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships
in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for in one
hour is she made desolate.'*

' To cast dust on the head with penitence attests death
unto sin. To cast dust on the head with impenitence
prefigures the second death.

' Sin conducts all to one goal. The land sinner finds
dust in plenty ; the seafaring sinner shall inherit dust
enough.

* Thank God, ample provision is stored for every
penitent wheresoever and whatsoever : dust, ashes, are
ready to hand for all.

* Lord, array us in spiritual sackcloth, that by
penitence we may bear witness to Thy goodness.'

158 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Miss Proctor writes as follows respecting Christina's
interest in practical work among the poor :

* In 1886 and 1887 I was engaged in parish work in
RatclifT. My mission was to go on Monday nights to
the Factory Girls' Club, London Street, under the special
care of the vicar, Rev. R. K. Arbuthnot. Here congre-
gated many of Bryant and May's workers, but rope-
makers, satchel-makers, jam-makers, and all the indus-
tries of the East End were represented. Many were of
Irish parents^e and Roman Catholics. The object was
to try and interest them in something, and get them into
the club after work was over. Miss Rossetti took a
deep interest in the welfare of these young people, and
would herself have liked to become a working member
of the club, had her nursing duties allowed it ; but at
that time she had two aunts, invalids, to tend.

' In returning home, which I never did before eleven
o'clock p.m., many incidents struck me on the route. I
was accu^omed to relate all to Miss Rossetti, who
specially wished to hear how the evening had been passed.
At one time it was the tiny children returning home alone,
their part being over at the Theatre, that excited her
commiseration, and she said : —

London makes mirth, but I know God hears
The sobs in the dark, and the dropping of tears.

* Sometimes my tales were ludicrous scenes at the
suppers given, and presided over by Mr. (now Sir)
Walter Besant She was very sympathetic with young
people.'

A brief extract may here be made from a letter
placed at my disposal as showing her thoughtfulness
when even a remote chance occurred of being useful to
others :

* Will, you kipdly add Mr. 's No. on the enclosed

card, & then allow it to be posted. I had an opportunity
of mentioning him to an old-established watchmaker
this morning, — tho' I fear nothing will ensue.'

HER ACCOUNT-BOOKS 1 59

She was never what would be commonly termed an
active woman of affairs ; yet she was not unpractical
and her methodical and carefully arranged account-
books of household expenditure were models of
neatness.

In *Time Flies' under date of May 31 she speaks
admirably about time and its employment

* What is meant by " want of time " ? What do I
mean by the words ?

* It seems that I must mean one of two things :
either that I lack time for duties because I devote it to
non-duties, or that, devoting it to duties, I feel discon-
tented at lacking leisure for non-duties.

* Non-duties may be attractive ; they may even
appear on occasion heroic or self-devoted : but we may
be sure they are not duties so long as there honestly is
not time for them.

* On the contrary, taking the place of duties, they
would degenerate into offences.'

She held that possibly we might be near the end of
the world and wrote as follows in * The Face of the
Deep * : —

* And at the present day when so open-mouthed an
antagonism has set in against Christ and Revelation ;

and when so many " devout and honourable " persons (if ^
following the Inspired text I dare call them so) are /
arrayed against the truth as it is in Jesus ; and when
signal virtues of philanthropy, with self-spending and
alacrity in being spent, take the field like Goliath the
Giant in defiance of the armies of the Living God ; I
think the pseudo-Christ-like aspect of error becomes
prominently urged upon our gravest consideration :
especially as of necessity we know not how close upon
us may already be the actual personal Antichrist in
whom human wickedness appears to culminate ; that
Antichrist who will, it seems, be a foul human agent
and copy of the old original Evil one. Let us pause a

l60 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

moment to face this last great adversary, who not as
our open enemy but as one of ourselves, will do this
dishonour/

Quaintly and characteristically she enforces the
desirability of a sublimated form of courtesy, and under
date of May 24 she writes in ' Time Flies ' : —

•-•1

* A certain^Englishman sojourning in the East, and
by mishap breaking a valuable pipe, the property of his
entertainer, felt abashed, when his host took up the
word : " In a stranger the destruction of so costly an
article might cause displeasure, but in a friend every
action has its charm."

* One friend I once possessed who would, I think, on
occasion have been capable of such graciousness. But
why (if so it be) have I known one such only ? And
why am I (alas ! ) not myself the second ? '

The * friend* referred to above, Dr. Adolf Heimann,
was Professor of German in University College, London.

With a touch almost of humour she tells in * Time
Flies,' under date of October 1 2, how ' a good unobtru-
sive Christian of my own intimate circle' — the *good
unobtrusive Christian ' was her aunt Eliza Polidori —
found comfort in the recollection that no day lasted
longer than twenty-four hours. And there is a real but
not an affected humility in the entry in ' Time Flies *
under date of December 4, where she sets before herself
and others, as an example worthy of imitation, the
truth conveyed in the remark of * an exemplary
Christian' (her Aunt Charlotte Polidori) that she was
never blamed without perceiving some justice in the
charge.

As might be anticipated Christina had the deepest
love of the masterpieces of English poetry. But, even
when dealing with masterpieces, she was by no means

HER READING OF POETRY l6l

indiscriminate in her praise. Sometimes, indeed, she
admired passages in great poets which are not universally
selected for commendation. An example of this is seen
in her liking for Milton's sonnet * To Lawrence * men-
tioned by her brother in a letter to Mr. Hall Caine.
She was an exquisite reader of poetry. Mr, Sharp has
told us {vide p. 57) how finely she read to him South-
well's * Burning Babe/ as well as her own work, and from
personal knowledge I can confirm the truth of his remarks.
Nothing was more delightful than to hear her repeat
snatches of poetry, and she was equally able to bring
out the subtler rhythm of English prose. I do not
think she had ever been taught elocution, and probably
she had never even studied it consciously, yet uncon-
sciously its higher rules came to her naturally. Her
reading was by no means extensive, but then it was
always of the best ; and she could distingruish between
verse, however melodious, and poetry. She was
generous in her praise of contemporaries — especially
when that praise was well merited — as in the case of
Augusta Webster's striking drama * The Sentence.'
In the article ('Athenaeum,' No. 3,641, August 7, 1897)
already referred to appears a letter to Dora Greenwell,
dated December 31, 1863, in the course of which Chris-
tina says :

* What think you of Jean Ingelow, the wonderful
poet? I have not yet read the volume, but reviews
with copious extracts have made me aware of a new
eminent name having arisen among us. I want to know
who she is, what she is like, where she lives. All I have
heard is an uncertain rumour that she is aged twenty-
one, and is one of three sisters resident with their
mother. A proud mother, I should think.'

M

1 62 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

And in a letter to Anne Gilchrist, of date 1864, she
wrote:

'My acquaintance with Jean Ingelow's poems to
which you kindly introduced me, has been followed by
a very slight acquaintance with herself She appears as
unaffected as her verses, though not their equal in
regular beauty : however I fancy hers is one of those
variable faces in which the variety is not the least
charm.'

Christina Rossetti's personal habits were of the
simplest She rose early, and dined at one or two
o'clock, taking a third meal in the evening* Usually
she retired to rest early, though never, I am informed
by her brother and others, without passing some time,
probably half an hour, in prayer. One day, when at
Torrington Square soon after her death, her brother
showed me an old-fashioned prie-dieu. Even before her
last illness she had found the mechanical exertion of
Kneeling somewhat difficult, and had used \h\s pHe-dieu
as an assistance.

The simplicity and regularity of her life was prob*
ably the cause of the considerable recuperative power
which frequently surprised her physician, Dr. Stewart,
during her last illness. She took Holy Communion
twice weekly — on Thursday and Sunday. Probably
admirers of her devotional work will recollect her little
homilies for special occasions which close * Time Flies.'^
The ' holy man ' named by her in the first of these —
that for Ember Wednesday, as suggesting a new motive
for joining in the service of * Churching of Women ' —
was the late Canon Burrows, formerly rector of Christ
Church, Albany Street She was invited to write his
life, and wished to do so, only relinquishing the idea
owing to the state of her health.

ON FASTING 1 63

She favoured moderate fasting for religious purposes,
and in * The Face of the Deep * speaks as follows concern-
ing it : * God accepts dues as gifts. Man receives gifts »/
as dues/ characteristically and somewhat naively adding,
though without mentioning the * eminent physician ' by
name :

*An eminent physician [Sir William JennerJ once
told me that there are people who would benefit in
health by fasting : a secondary motive, yet surely not
an unlawful one. To perform a duty from a motive
which is not wrong may prove a step towards perform-
ing it from the motive which is right. To leave it
unperformed seems the last contrivance adapted to
result in its performance.'

Even in the last year of her life, amid constant suf-
fering and much weakness, she was always cheerful and
frequently bright, and though a recluse she never spoke
to me as such. Here may be introduced some words
from Mr. Sharp in a communication to myself :

* A fine phrase of hers that I remember was : " The
blithe cheerfulness which one can put over one's sadness
like a veil — a bright shining veil. Cheerfulness I con- ^
sider a fundamental and essential Christian virtue." *

What follows, an extract from a letter to Mrs.
Patchett Martin dated November 2, 1891, may be
quoted here as describing her ways at a somewhat
earlier date. The * den * was the little back sitting-
room mentioned at p. 143 :

* It is not altogether unsociability which holds me
aloof. I live with a quite aged Aunt permanently
invalided, and house arrangements and many points
have to subserve her convenience. So now friends are
very kind in coming to see me without expecting my
return visit ; and they take me just as they find me,
which in all probability is receiving them into " my den." *

'M2

164 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

The very tones of her voice, in their slow distinct
intonation, were pleasant to hear. Her humorous sonnet-
;epitaph on the Praeraphaelite Brotherhood will be re-
membered, and also her amusing lines in ' New Poems '
* On Albina ' and * Forget Me Not * written respectively
in June, and on August 19, 1844. And as late as June
1894 I recollect her laughing heartily on hearing that a
French translation of * David Copperfield,* which, on a
visit to Paris, I had picked up second-hand a few days
before, on one of the bookstalls on the Quais which line
the Seine, was entitled * Le Neveu de ma Tante.* At all
times she was willing to chat about her favourite authors,
and her knowledge of literature — even of the by-ways
of literature in unexpected quarters — was considerable.
For instance, I recollect her telling me on one occasion
that though she herself had never read a line of Charles
Whitehead, she remembered well her elder brother
speaking to her with warm appreciation concerning him,
and pointing out to her that probably Whitehead had
influenced Dickens's early st>*le.

During the illness of her last surviving aunt. Miss
Eliza Harriet Polidori, Christina had secured the
services as nurse of Mrs. Read. Finding on the death
of her aunt, that she herself required the services of a
nurse, and being satisfied in every way with Mrs. Read,
she asked her to remain. Two other servants — a cook
and a housemaid — had always been kept.

In the morning, and once more towards nine
o'clock in the evening, Christina Rossetti gathered
the servants around her, reading for a few minutes
a passage of Scripture, and then a suitable prayer
from the Anglican Prayer-Book, and frequently the
Collect for the day. She continued the practice of

CHRIST CHURCH, WOBURN SQUARE 1 65

household devotion twice daily till nearly the close of
her life, and when too weak to conduct it herself, she
directed what was to be read, and Mrs. Read undertook
the duty in her presence. Hymns were never sung on
these occasions.

For nearly twenty years she had been a constant
worshipper at Christ Church, Woburn Square. A friend
informs me that towards the close of her life Christina
always sat in the very front pew in church. She
remained until the very last before leaving the building,
and it was evident from her demeanour that even then
she strove to avoid ordinary conversation, evidently
feeling that it would disturb her mood of mind.

For certain years previous to 1894 she had suffered
from a heart ailment, accompanied by dropsical symp-
toms, and in May 1892 she was operated on for cancer,
successfully it was thought at the time. Early in June
1892, with her brother and a hospital nurse, she went to
Brighton, and appeared to gain much benefit from the
change. One of her pleasures when there was to hear
him read aloud the ' Autobiography of Isaac Williams,'
the poet and divine, the friend of John Henry Newman
and of Edward Bouverie Pusey, and author of more
than one of the * Tracts for the Times.' She had a
great regard for Isaac Williams, who was in some sense
a poet of the Tractarian Movement. Dante Gabriel had
also a high opinion of this writer's sonnets. Readers of
the Prefatory Note to her * Seek and Find ' will recollect
her expressions of indebtedness to Williams's * Harmony.'
The letter ensuing shows how she came to. read his
* Autobiography ' :

1 66 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

To Mr. Patchett Martin

30 Torrington Square — W.C.
Thursday. [May 12, 1892.]

* First I thought I would not write till I had something
unselfish to write about, but now I feel as if it may look
ungracious and ungrateful not to acknowledge your
kindness in offering me an occasional book to read. I
shall be very thankful for such a loan when a book is
lying absolutely idle, and the particular work you pro-
pose (Rev. Isaac Williams) is one I should pick out

* Very truly your obliged

* Christina G. Rossetti.'

What follows, in a note to Mrs. Patchett Martin,
written on June 18, 1892, alludes to the same subject :

* Please hand the enclosed receipt [for 2/. 12^. 6^. in
payment of articles contributed to " Literary Opinion "]
to Mr. Martin with my thanks and with particular thanks
for the books he so obligingly lends me. I hope to
enjoy all three.

* Thank you also for missing me at Church : I hope
to refill my seat in a few Sundays.*

To Mr. Patchett Martin

* I took the liberty of taking your loan out of town
with me. Now on my return I send back with my grate-
ful thanks two of the volumes, venturing to retain " Dean
Church " as I have not finished reading it Mr. Henley's
" Hospital " is grim but interesting ; " Isaac Williams "
much to my taste.

' Truly your obliged

* Christina G. Rossettl'

' Dean Church ' means Dean Church's village sermons
preached at Whatley, near Frome ; * Mr. Henley's
" Hospital " ' refers to the set of poems in Mr. W. E,
Henley's ' Book of Verses.*

SERIOUS ILLNESS 1 6/

About the same date her work had begun to attract
attention on the Continent, for her brother tells me
that

' Henri Jacottet wrote some good articles about
C[hristina], 1893 or 1894, in a Swiss review.'

He has also written to me regarding Christina's
attitude towards music — an attitude made interesting
psychologically from Dante Gabriel's dislike of elaborate
music :

* I don't consider that Christina had any dislike of
music : would even say that in a certain sense she liked
and admired it — But she had no sort of musical gift of
her own, and (sensibly enough) did not cultivate an art
towards which she had no vocation.'

There was no piano or musical instrument of any
kind in her house, and I never heard her allude in talk
in the faintest degree to the pleasure derivable from
music.

Towards March or April of 1893 ^ renewed manifes-
tation of cancer showed itself along her left shoulder
and arm, and now any hope of permanent recovery was
abandoned. Her sufferings were great, but her fortitude
was even greater. I often saw her showing visible
traces of pain, but never, save once, did she directly
allude to it.

On this occasion she said to me, with an inexpres-
sibly pathetic look in her eyes : * In the letter you wrote
to me a little while ago' (she referred to, a letter of
sympathy I had written to her on the death of a near
relative of her own), ' you showed me you believed in
prayer. Will you now promise me to put up one short
prayer for me ; I have to suffer so very much f * I

1 68 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

promised to comply with her request not once, but many-
times, and I kept my word* I shall never cease to re^
member her glance of gratitude.

For the volume entitled * Verses/ published by the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1893,
and consisting of poems reprinted from her 'Called
to be Saints,* * Time Flies/ and ' The Face of the
Deep/ she was at the trouble to copy all the poems
out afresh, and to arrange them under separate
headings, thus forming one of the most curious and
attractive of her manuscripts. Her brother said to
her : * Why do you take the trouble of copying the
poems ? '

She answered : * I have plenty of leisure.' In her
brother's judgment she copied the poems partly because
she liked the mere mechanical act of writing, and partly
— and perhaps this was the chief reason — because she
was anxious to save all possible expense to the Society.
A friend called upon her about ten days after the first
lai^e edition of these * Verses ' appeared, and told her it /
was sold out. Whereupon she exclaimed : * I'm so glad
for the sake of the Society. You know that it gets all
the profits for the promotion of its work.'

During her last illness and for some time previously,
her medical adviser had been Dr. Stewart. In August
1894, owing to serious increase of pain with its resulting
weakness, she ceased to attend the public services at
Christ Church. Her friend, the Rev. J. J. Glendinning
Nash, the incumbent of Christ Church, came to see her
weekly, however, usually on the morning of Monday,
and held a brief religious service in her room, administer-
ing Holy Communion whenever her state permitted.
During his absence on a brief holiday his place was

THE REV. J. J. GLENDINNING NASH 1 69

taken by the Rev. T. N, Talfourd Major, curate of
Christ Church.

Mr. Glendinning Nash informs me that until her last
illness she was present at nearly all the weekly services
at Christ Church, and received Holy Communion every
Sunday and Thursday. * She took,' he says, ' the deepest
interest in Christ Church, its schools, and its district.
She subscribed generously, and nearly every Sunday
during her illness sent money for the offertory.'

At a late stage of her illness, when her bodily con-
dition necessitated her remaining constantly in bed, her
doctor advised her removal into the drawing-room from
the bedroom at the back of the drawing-room she had
occupied up to that time. The chief purpose of this
removal was to obtain the advantage of the greater
amount of air, which the increased size of the drawing-
room afforded. The appointments of the drawing-
room were altered as little as might be, compatible
with the change.

To a friend who saw her a few days before her death
she said, with a touch of her old contentment, she was
so glad to be in bed as she was so * restful ' there. She
further expressed a marked preference for the small bed
on which she lay because it was the bed whereon her
mother had died. She also said it gave her pleasure to
think she used the same sheets and pillows as her mother
had used. In spite of the greater convenience of the
drawing-room in many respects, it had its disadvantages
as a sick room. Chief among these was the fact that it
overlooked the square, and that consequently the noise
was considerable. I recollect, for instance, calling to
inquire after Christina's state on one sultry afternoon
in the summer of 1894. As a needful measure, no

170 CHRISTINA ROSSETT

doubt, the windows were thrust open, and the discordant
noise from no fewer than three piano-oi^ans within
hearing would, indeed, have been trying to many a
sufferer. It is re-assuring, therefore, to learn from her
brother, as I have done, that she was not wont to be
inconvenienced in the sh'ghtest degree by such matters.

Several of her old and most intimate friends have
told me that, after she ceased to be able to see them,
she sent them very special messages on their calling to
inquire after her. Even in my own case, when no
longer able to see me, she liked me to call to make
inquiries, and liked also to be informed when I called,
preferring that I should wait to hear if there was a
message. Sometimes she sent me a delicately worded
message of thanks, occctsionally, though by no means
always, making definite inquiries about my own health
or other matters requiring a reply. Whenever she sent
messages to me they were always couched in different
words, but invariably with a pretty turn of expression.
Once, I remember, she was ' helped by my sympathy.'

Her brother has said to me, and wishes me to mention,
that about a * couple of years ' before her death Dr. Stewart
told him * she was very liable to some form of hysteria.'
For a while in her final illness, though appreciably less
in her last fortnight of life, such symptoms were apparent,
particularly during semi-consciousness, chiefly manifest-
ing themselves in cries, not so much, as far as could be
observed, ' thro' absolute pain ' as * thro* some sort of
hysterical stimulation.'

One of the visits I paid to Torrington Square during
the last year of her life (a visit on which I did not see
Christina Rossetti) especially lives in my recollection,
because of the most memorable conversation I then had

COPIES FAMILY LETTERS I71

With Mr. W. M. Rossetti in the dining-room. Then it
was I first came to see, what I have since been very
fully conscious of, namely, that beneath his calm, almost
judicial manner, there lies a depth of real feeling,
and an almost passionate affection for those he loves,
qualities not always apparent to those who casually
observe his demeanour. After speaking with deep
distress of the sufferings of his sister, he told me, (as
he has subsequently related in the Preface to the
memoir of his brother), that Christina, near to death as
she was, had kept him right in many details of the early
years, her reminiscences of her childhood being still
vivid and accurate.

Under date December 23 in * Time Flies' there
appears this autobiographical allusion : —

* One day I caught myself wishing what I felt con-
vinced would not be the case, — that a certain occupation
at once sad and pleasant and dear to me, and at that
very moment inevitably drawing towards a close, could
have lasted out through the remainder of my lifetime.

* Perhaps no harm in the instinctive wish, — none, I
hope : yet what fallacies lay at its root !

* At least two.'

My readers will be interested to learn that the
* occupation ' here referred to was the copying out during
1882 for the second volume of the memoir of Dante
Gabriel just mentioned, the letters addressed by him
to his mother and to Christina herself. In the charac-
teristically written and vivid note by the editor to
her posthumous Poems he tells us how, even up to
and beyond October 1894, *she was often extremely
conversible.' One day she repeated to him the amus-
ing lines * In my cottage near the Styx ' which are

172 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

thus preserved to us. Concerning these lines he has
written to me as follows :

' I regard it as a jocular outcome of a state of mind
which was more dreary than jocular — for C[hristina] did
not at all rejoice in her semi-banishment to Frome.'

Despite the marked differences of temperament and
of opinion between herself and her brother William, it
must have been evident to anyone who had heard her
mention him, how deep was her love for him ; and how
real was also the respect in which she held him, both on
account of his intellectual gifts and because he had been
for so long not only the family prop, but, in some sense,
tlie custodian of the family papers and traditions. She
evinced this respect in the most practical manner in her
power by leaving all her material means to him, and by
entrusting to his keeping without reservation of any
kind all her manuscripts and papers of whatever sort

I have his authority for stating that "about three
months before her death she told him in the course of con-
fidential talk that some few years previously, when she
had comparatively little to leave, she had made her will
in his favour. She added * that now, being much better
off,' she would, if he assented, wish to provide 2,000/. for
religious purposes — but this only in case of his children
being, in his opinion, sufficiently well provided for at his
death to make this arrangement seem proper to him.
He has assented fully to his sister's wish, and has, in his
own will (drawn up soon after that interview with his
sister), provided for that 2,000/. on such conditions
regarding his children as make it, in his view, ' practically
certain that the 2,000/. will go to the uses * mentioned
above.

MR. ROBERT W. DIBDIN 1 73

Even in the last days of her life she did acts of kind-
ness. Not long before her death she gave instructions
that a copy of her volume * Sing- Song ' should be sent ^
on New Year's Day as her New Year's gift to the
children of Mr. Robert W. Dibdin, one of the church-
wardens of Christ Church, and at the appointed time
the touching little present duly reached them.

In the late autumn of 1894 Dr. Stewart's own health
required that he should quit England for the south of
France. This was a source of deep regret both to him-
self and to his patient, as in the circumstances, the part-
ing had the aspect of being final, and Christina had a
warm attachment for him — an attachment heartily
reciprocated. Dr. Stewart left her in charge of Dr.
Abbot Anderson who did all in his power to relieve
her.

It was of course well known that the end was fast
approaching, and could not in any event be much longer
delayed. Nevertheless, her rallying powers had so often
before proved remarkable, that when I reached 30
Torrington Square about half- past one on the after-
noon of Saturday, December 29, 1 894, it was with an
even greater degree of that curious involuntary surprise
which we generally experience at the presence of Death,
however expected he may be, that I noticed the blinds v
were drawn down. Mrs. Read informed me, that about
7 A.M. on the morning of Friday the 28th, Christina had
become very deadly cold, and with a purple look on the
face. She feared the end had come ; but, using restora-
tives, she sent for Dr. Abbot Anderson. On his
arrival he had found his patient better, and, during the
whole of that day, Friday, little change had been
apparent, Christina Rossetti continuing restful, seeming

174 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

to suffer little pain, and taking nourishment She
passed a quiet night, and about 5 A.AC on the morning
of December 29, when Emma, the housemaid, who
took part of the watching, came as usual into the sick
room to relieve Mrs. Read, the latter remarked to her
that she thought her mistress's voice (which had grown
nearly inaudible) was returning in some measure.
Between 6 and 7 A.M. Christina's lips were seen to be
moving perpetually in prayer (that it was pra}rer was
shown, though of course the words were unheard, by
the frequent inclination of the head as at the name of
Jesus) and, as far as could be observed, she was per-
fectly conscious. At 7.25 A.M., by the watch on the
table, the only person actually in the room with her
being Mrs. Read, Christina somewhat suddenly gave a
faint sigh, and died before her brother William, whose
constant and loving ministrations had so often soothed
her during the long and weary hours of her last illness,
could be summoned.

Mrs. Read asked me to go upstairs, saying her mistress,
with characteristic if extraordinary thoughtfulness, had
told her that, should I call after her (Christina's) death
at any time when it was still possible, I was to be taken
to see her. I was touched profoundly by this last and
quite unexpected proof of my friend's regard for me, and
availed myself at once of the privilege offered to me.

As I entered what had formerly been Christina's
drawing-room I thought how unchanged yet how
changed was the room. All the pictures, and well-nigh
all the pieces of furniture, even to the miscellaneous
articles which stood usually on the large drawing-room
table, were in the same places as I had been in the

HER APPEARANCE AFTER* DEATH 1 75

habit of observing them. This, paradoxical as it may
seem at first sight to say so, added vastly to the sense
of impressiveness, just as the contrast between the com-
monplace — almost the prosaic — details and the super-
natural element indissolubly enlinked with the poem,
adds to the impressiveness of that lyric by Christina
which her brother Gabriel named for her * At Home.*

The small, narrow, curtainless bed was standing
immediately below Mr. Shields*s *Good Shepherd.'
With the sharpening of the perceptive faculties that
comes to us sometimes, at moments like these, I thought
I had never before seen Dante Gabriers large chalk
drawing of his sister — that drawn in 1866 — appear so 1/

lovely.

Mrs. Read reverently uncovered the dear face, and
as I looked once more upon it, I saw that, though
slightly emaciated, it was not greatly changed since
the last time I had beheld it in life. Perhaps I was
hardly so much struck with the breadth of her brow — I
mean in regard to its indication of intellectual qualities —
as I had been often when conversing with her, but on
the other hand I was struck more than ever before both
by the clear manifestation of the more womanly qualities
and by the strength of purpose shown in the lips. Some
white flowers on a table near at hand gave a sense of
relief. There was pathos, there was solemnity in the
aspect of the room, there was no gloom. My spirit was
moved by the contrast I felt between the holy — almost
the saintly atmosphere of the house and its common-
place surroundings. I remained for a few moments in
the room, while her nurse told me in a subdued voice
the incidents of the past day or two, and how Christina
had often remarked to her of late (very characteristic

176 CIIRISTIXA ROSSETTI

was the utterance) : * This illness has humbled me. I
was so proud before.'

I felt how applicable were Christina's own words :

Weep not ; O friends, we should not weep ;

Our friend of friends lies full of rest ;

No sorrow rankles In her breast,
Fallen hst asleep.

Throughout the remainder of that day I did eveiy-
thing with the presence of that darkened room ever
before me.

To those of us who believe in the blessedness of
spiritual assurance — who believe that such an assurance
continued up to the latest moments of earthly life is an
unspeakable boon — it is always sad to hear of instances
where this trust has been lessened or destroyed, or may
seem to have been lessened or destroyed, even though
by merely physical conditions. Yet even these distress-
ing instances, when they occur, have their aspects of
comfort. When we find that some of the most spiritu-
ally minded, some of the most holy men and women
whom this world has known, have suffered depression,
nay even gloom, in their dying moments, we are shown
more clearly that our spiritual state does not depend on
our own feelings or moods of mind — another useful
illustration is thus given us of the constant antagonism
between the apparent and the real. I have been led to
these reflections because, after much consideration, I
have determined to print a communication made to
me by Mr. W. M. Rossetti respecting his sister's spiritual
condition in the last days of her life He had been
good enough to read over the MS. of an article I had
written concerning her for one of the periodicals, and

I

LAST LETTER TO MR. SHIELDS 17/

it was as to a word or two thereiti) that he wrote to mc
as follows :

* In the last three months or- so of her [Christina's]
life, she was most gloomy on the subject [of her spiritual
state], some of her utterances being deeply painful. This
of course was beyond measure unreasonable but so it
was. / believe the influence of opiates (which were
indispensable) had something to do with it

• ••••<•

' Assuredly my sister did to the last continue believ-
ing in the promises of the Gospel, as interpreted by
Theologians ; but her sense of its threatenings was very
lively, and at the end more operative on her personal
feelings. This should not have been. She remained
firmly convinced that her mother and sister are saints
in heaven, and I endeavoured to show her that according
to her own theories, she was just as safe as they : but
this — such was her humility of self estimate — did not
relieve her from troubles of soul. If there is any reality
in the foundations of her creed, she now knows how
greatly she was mistaken.'

Her long and intimate friendship with Mr. Shields
continued to the last I have seen a short letter to him,
dated September 5, 1894, which is pathetic both on
account of its contents, and because of the handwriting
grown shaky. It is of too sacrqd 9. .character to be
given here. I may mention, however, that, after thank*
ing Mr. Shields for the privilege of his friendship, she
ends by an almost passionate expression of personal
humility couched in a phrase, which, in another, would
have appeared exaggerated, even forced, but, in her,
seemed only natural.

Much sorrow was felt at her loss, and this was
coupled with much praise of her gifts. Seldom indeed
has praise been so widespread, never has it been more
sincere. As an instance of this a reference here may

N

I

1

178 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

fittingly be made to what was said about her by two
highly distinguished, and, though widely different, very
representative men — the first a great poet, the second a
great Anglican theologian. In one of the most touching
of his recent elegiac poems Mr. Swinburne wrote :

A soul more sweet than the morning of new-bom May

Has passed with the year that has passed from the world away.

A song more sweet than the morning's first-born song
Again will hymn not among us a new year's day.

Not here, not here shall the carol of joy grown strong
Ring rapture now, and uplift us, a spell-struck throng,
From dream to vision of life that the soul may see
By death's grace only, if death do its trust no wrong.

Scarce yet the days and the starry nights are three
Since here among us a spirit abode as we,

Girt round with life that is fettered in bonds of time,
And clasped with darkness about as is earth with sea.

And now, more high than the vision of souls may climb.
The soul whose song was as music of stars that chime,

Clothed round with life as of dawn and the mounting sun.
Sings, and we know not here of the song sublime :

while Dr. Westcott, Bishop of Durham, sent the follow-
ing letter to Mr. W. M. Rossetti : —

From The Right Rev, the Bisltop of DurJiam
To Mr. W. M. Rossetti

Auckland Castle
Bishop Auckland
New Year's Day 1895.

* Dear Sir, — It may be presumptuous for a stranger to
intrude on your solemn quiet, but my debt to Miss
Rossetti encourages me to believe a friend who tells me
that the simplest expression of sympathy with your loss
might not be unwelcome. It happened that last Christ-
mas Day at our evening gathering I chose "Goblin

LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF DURHAM 1 79

Market " to read, and that wonderful story of the power
of a sister's love in the temptations of life touched all
hearts. On that very day too the friend (Miss Heaton
of Leeds) to whom I owe almost a personal knowledge
of Miss Rossetti, was called to her rest Not a week
passes, I think, when I do not find some fresh pleasure
from fr^ments of your sister's works. And my ex-
perience is, I am sure, that of very many. Those who
sb teach us and reveal themselves to us cannot be lost
However hard it is to realise as yet that the fact that
they pass out of sight makes them unchangeable, at least
I know — this house with its Chapel tells me so every
day — that some of the friends who are dearest to me
and help me most have entered on a fuller life. May
you feel the consolation of this eternal companionship
which knows no break in the presence of God.

* Forgive me if I have been too bold, and believe me
to be

* Yrs most faithfully,

*B. F. DUNELM.'

W. M. Rossetti, Esq.
etc etc.

In writing to myself under date of Feb. 13, 1896,
the Bishop, after remarking that * it will be a very great
pleasure ' to him if I make * use ' of his letter, goes on
to say that he entertained for Christina Rossetti a
' reverent admiration ' which it could not * adequately
express.'

During the night previous to Christina Rossetti*s
funeral, which took place on January 2, 1895, there had
been a slight fall of snow, and the air in the early morn-
ing had in it just that suggestion of winter appropriate
to the season. A preliminary service was held at Christ
Church, conducted by Mr. Glendinning Nash, assisted
by his curate, the Rev. T. N. Talfourd Major.

The service was attended by her brother, his four
children (the Misses Olivia, Helen, Mary, and Mr. Arthur

N 2

l8o CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Rossetti) who with Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, Miss
Lisa Wilson, and Mrs. Read were the occupants of the
mourning coaches. Among many others present were
Mr. John R. Clayton, Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Stephens, Mr.
Arthur Hughes, Mr. Frederic Shields, Dr. Abbot
Anderson, the Countess Hugo (who married a nephew of
the great French writer), Mrs. Gamett, Mrs. Hueffer, Mrs.
Virtue Tebbs, Sister Eliza, formerly of St Margaret's
Home, Mrs. Percy Bunting, Mr. William Sharp, Professor
Wyndham Dunstan, F.R.S., Mr. Forbes Robertson, Mr.
Robert W. Dibdin, Mr. Robert Porter (Superintendent of
the eleventh United States census) and Mrs. Porter, Mr.
G. A. Garrett, and Mrs. E. T. Cooke ; while among those
who sent wreaths were Lady Lindsay, The Countess
Hugo, Miss Ursula Christina Gordon Hake, her god-
daughter, Sister Eliza, and Dr. Abbot Anderson.

When I entered Christ Church I was struck by the
beauty of the edifice — a solemn quiet beauty specially
suited to such an occasion. The coffin, brought in a
closed hearse from Torrington Square, was met at the
western door of the church by the clergymen and the
surpliced choir, and, covered by many wreaths of flowers,
was solemnly borne to its place in front of the chancel
while * O rest in the Lord ' was played on th6 organ.
' Abide with me ' having been sung, Mr. Nash proceeded
with the burial service. After that magnificent passage
(i Cor. XV. 20) * Now is Christ risen from the dead, and
become the first-fruits of them that slept ' had been read,
some stanzas from Christina's poem * Advent,* beginning

The Porter watches at the gate,
and ending

With Jesus Christ our best,

HER FUNERAL l8l

were sung to the tune of St. Ana Subsequently her
Lord, grant us grace to mount by steps of grace,

set to tasteful and appropriate music composed ex-
pressly for the occasion by Mr. F. T. Lowden, organist
of Christ Church, was sung. Then, as the coffin was
raised from beneath the chancel steps and slowly carried
down the aisle, the Dead March in Saul was played
impressively, while many of the congregation waited a
moment or two outside the church door, with every
token of respect, to see the funeral cortege depart Her
brother, in a letter to Mr. Nash, a word or two of which
I am privileged to quote, suitably gave utterance to the
general feeling concerning the service held at Christ
Church when he spoke of its 'unflawed harmony of
manner with its sacred matter.' It was indeed one of
those services which will live in the memory of those
who took part in it as almost symbolical of the person
commemorated. Moreover, as one of Christina Rossetti's
most attached friends said to me afterwards, ' there was
nothing gloomy about it'

As far as I am aware, with the exception of one or
two persons unknown to me and whom I had not
observed at Christ Church, only her brother and his
children accompanied by Mr. Nash, Mr. Watts-Dunton,
Miss Lisa Wilson, Mrs. Read and myself were present
at the interment at Highgate. Her brother, however,
informs me that Mr. Sydney Martin attended of his own
accord and took some photographs, also that Alice
Bloomfield (formerly a housemaid in the service of
Christina Rossetti) and a male relative of hers, were there.
The family grave of the Rossettis, where Christina was
buried with her father and mother and Elizabeth

1 82 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Eleanor, wife of Dante Gabriel, is in the old portion of
Highgate Cemetery. Standing near a pathway on a
portion of high ground it is not unpicturesquely situated.
A sprinkling of snow had remained on the ground, and^
as the closing words of the burial service were being
read by Mr. Nash, the winter sunshine, gleaming through
the leafless branches of some trees to the right, revealed
all their delicate tracery, while a robin sang. Then,
after some wreaths from those peculiarly dear to her had
been placed on the coffin, and the last look had been
taken, we left the cemetery.

I shall close my narrative of Christina's funeral by
quoting my friend Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton's beauti-
ful sonnets descriptive of it, entitled * The Two Christ-
mastides.' * The reference in the closing line of the sestet
of the last sonnet is to an incident which took place
during her visit to Bognor at Christmas of 1875, a visit
mentioned in Chapter III.

THE TWO CHRISTMASTIDES

I

On Winter's woof, which scarcely seems of snow.

But hangs translucent, like a virgin's veil.

O'er headstone, monument and guardian-rail,
The New Year's sun shines golden — seems to throw
Upon her coffin-flowers a greeting glow

From lands she loved to think on— seems to trail

Love's holy radiance from the very Grail
O'er those white flowers before they sink below.

Is that a spirit or bird whose sudden song
From yonder sunlit tree beside the grave

Recalls a robin's warble, sweet yet strong.
Upon a lawn beloved of wind and wave —
Recalls her • Christmas Robin,' ruddy, brave.

Winning the crumbs she throws where blackbirds throng?

* Originally printed in The Athenctum for January 12, 1895.

MR. WATTS-DUNTON's TWO CHRISTMASTIDES ' 1 83

II

In Christmastide of Heaven does she recall
Those happy days with Gabriel by the sea,
Who gathered round him those he loved, when she

*Must coax the birds to join the festival,*

And said, ' The sea-sweet winds are musical
With carols from the billows singing free
Around the groynes, and every shrub and tree

Seems conscious of the Channel's rise and fair?

The coffin lowers, and I can see her now —
See the loved kindred standing by her side.

As once I saw them 'neath our Christmas bough —
And her, that dearest one, who sanctified
With halo of mother's love, our Christmastide,

And Gabriel too — with peace upon his brow.'

On January 6, 1895, the second Sunday after Christina
Rossetti's death, a suitable memorial sermon was preached
by Mr. Nash at the morning service of Christ Church
from the text ' Her own works praise her/ Prov. xxxi.
31, in the presence of a large and sympathetic congre-
gation. Her death was also fittingly alluded to else-
where by Dr. CliflTord and by others.

Her interest in Christ Church, even in the last days
of her life, is strikingly shown by a characteristic request
which she made concerning it to her brother William.
The following extract of a letter from him to Mr. Nash,
dated January 2, 1895, will sufficiently explain to what I
refer :

* My sister left a written memorandum worded thus :
" The 3 rings on my wedding finger are to be put into
a Church offertory unless you, dear William, like to put
\L into the offertory instead of that one of the 3 which

184 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

is evidently our mother's wedding ring." I shall of course
make the substitution ; and, if you will allow me, convert
the i/. into 10/., which will in due course be forthcoming
along with the remaining 2 rings. I have not as yet
looked these out, but the matter will not be long
delayed.'

The tombstone of the grave wherein Christina
Rossetti lies buried is of Portland stone painted white ;
and on the neatly kept surface of the grave, strewn with
cocoa-nut fibre, when I visited it on September 17, 1896,
were laid some beautiful chrysanthemums and autumnal
leaves arranged in the form of a cross, the freshness of
the flowers showing they had not long been where I
saw them. There is no space left for further lettering
on the original headstone, so the words about Christina
Rossetti are carved on the slanting face of an additional
slab placed across its base, and the initials of the
persons interred, and the dates of the interments appear
on the back of the footstone. The inscription in its
entirety is as follows :

TO THE

DEAR MEMORY OF

MY HUSBAND

GABRIELE ROSSETTI,

BORN AT VASTO AMMONE
IN THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES
28TH FEB. 1783,
DIED IN LONDON 26TH APRIL 1 854.

He shall return no more to see his native country.

Jeremiah xxii. 10.

Now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly.

Hebrews xi. 16.
Ah Dio — Ajutami Tu.

l"'^.*'W«-»,.»« ^B»

INSCRIPTION ON TOMBSTONE 1 85

ALSO OF

FRANCES MARY LAVINIA,

BELOVED WIFE OF THE ABOVE NAMED

GABRIELE ROSSETTI,

BORN APRIL 27TH, 1800, DIED APRIL 8tH, 1886.

Our Saviour Jesus Christ . , . hath alx>lished death.

Friend go up higher.

ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF

ELIZABETH ELEANOR,

WIFE OF THEIR ELDER SON

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI,

WHO DIED FEB. IXTH, 1 862
AGED 30 YEARS.

ALSO OF

CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

DAUGHTER OF

GABRIELE AND FRANCES ROSSETTI

BORN 3th DECEMBER, 1830.
DIED 29TH DECEMBER, 1 894.

Volsersi a me con salutevol cenno.

Give me the lowest place : or if for me

That lowest plape too high, make one more low :

There I may sit and see

My God and love Thee so.

About the inscription Mr. W. M. Rossetti writes to
mc thus :

•"Ah Dio ajutami Tu" [Ah God, do Thou help
me] was one of the last exclamations of my Father in
his dying moments : I think the last ; *' Volsersi a me
con salutevol cenno [They turned to me with an act of
salutation], a line in Dante's Purgatorio, I put on
C[hristina]'s tombstone as suggesting (but not with

1 86 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

such a degree of deiiniteness as I do not personally
believe) the reunion of the other tenants of that grave
with C[hristina] in the spiritual world/

In the grave adjoining are buried the wife of Ford
Madox Brown, and Michael Ford Madox Rossetti, the
infant son of Mr. W. M. Rossetti, who died in 1883.
Christina Rossetti's touching poem on the death of this
little child is well known. Of its four stanzas this is
perhaps the most original :

Brief dawn and noon and setting time !
Our rapid' rounding moon has fled ;
A black eclipse before the prime
Has swallowed up that shining head.
Eternity holds up her looking-glass : —

The eclipse of time will pass,
And all that lovely light return to sight.

The motto on the grave is :

And — if thou wilt — remember.

Christina had the quiet simplicity of real greatness,
and this simplicity was doubtless in itself an evidence
of genius. In intercourse with her one lost conscious-
ness of being in the presence of a distinguished poet,
because one became conscious of being in the presence
of a woman distinguished in the more noble womanly
qualities. Nature evidently had endowed her not only
with the gifts proper to a poet, and these in a lavish
degree, but also with choicest gifts of the heart and
soul. But if this was so, it was equally true that she
had herself matured and perfected her natural gifts by
that sublimest education of all — the education of the
soul.

Personally she was warmly attached to the Church

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION 187

of England. Respecting it she said in ' The Face of
the Deep * :

* To myself it is in the beloved Anglican Church of
my Baptism : a living branch of that one Holy Catholic
Apostolic Church which is authoritatively commended
and endeared to every Christian by the Word of God.'

But she had too noble a soul to be narrow. A
single practical example of the truth of this remark,
out of many that might be cited, will suffice here. An
intimate friend of hers said to me soon after her death,
* The fact of my being a Wesleyan made no difference
to Christina.' But, indeed, Christina Rossetti's own
writings confirm this view of her character. In * The
Face of the Deep,' while deprecating needless schism,
she writes : —

* Strength attaches to union, resource to multiplicity.
The kingdom of death (notwithstanding that death is
dissolution) retains strength while it coheres ; for our
Lord Himself declared that were Satan divided against
himself his kingdom could not stand. How much more
would the kingdom of life, which is the Church Catholic,
wax invincibly strong if all Christendom were to become
as at the first of one heart and one mind ! Alas ! for
the offences of former days and of this day, for our
fathers' offences and our own, which have torn to shreds
Christ's seamless vesture.

* Nevertheless inasmuch as multiplicity is allied to
resource, let us, until better may be, make capital even
of our guilty disadvantage. Let us be provoked to
good works by those with whom we cannot altogether
agree, yet who many ways set us a pattern. Why
exclusively peer after defects while virtues stare us in
the face ? Cannot we — I at least can learn much from
the devotion of Catholic Rome, the immutability of
Catholic Greece, the philanthropic piety of Quakerism,
the zeal of many a "Protestant." And when the
Anglican Church has acquired and reduced to practice

1 88 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

each virtue from every such source, holding fast mean-
while her own goodly heritage of gifts and graces, then
may those others likewise learn much from her : until
to every Church, congregation, soul, God be All in all.'

And again, in the same volume, she writes in her
commentary on the text * His eyes were as a flame of
fire,' &c. (Rev. xix. 12) :

* Moreover in the surpassing rapture of that day
recognition will not be all : discovery likewise (please
God !) awaits us. As one has strikingly suggested :
some that glanced at afar off appear stones, when viewed
close at hand may turn out to be sheep. God all along
has beheld them as sheep, and sheep they were : the
misapprehension (thank God) was ours.

' To-day I read " Samaria " ; to-morrow I may re-
decipher the selfsame letters as " S*. Maria."

Passing away the bliss, Clean past away the sorrow.

The anguish passing The pleasure brought back to

away : stay :

Thus it is Thus and this
To-day. To-morrow.'

In an article contributed to *The Athenaeum* of
February 15, 1896, on her *New Poems' — an article
referred to already — Mr. Watts-Dunton, with his
accustomed keen penetration and delicacy of touch,
gives the following admirable analysis of certain aspects
of her character :

* Mr. W. M. Rossetti speaks of " the very wide and
exceedingly strong outburst of eulogy" of his sister
which appeared in the public press after her death.
Yet that outburst was far from giving adequate expres-
sion to what was felt by some of her readers — those
between whom and herself there was a bond of sym-
pathy so sacred and so deep as to be something like a
religion. It is not merely that she was the acknow-
ledged queen in that world (outside the arena called

HER CHARACTER I 89

" the literary world ") where poetry is " its own exceeding
great reward," but to other readers of a different kind
altogether — readers who, drawing the deepest delight
from such poetry as specially appeals to them, never
read any other, and have but small knowledge of poetry
as a fine art — her verse was, perhaps, more precious
still. They feel that at every page of her writing the
beautiful poetry is only the outcome of a life whose
almost unexampled beauty fascinates them.

* Although Christina Rossetti had more of what is
called the unconsciousness of poetic inspiration than''
any other poet of her time, the writing of poetry was
not by any means the chief business of her life. She
was too thorough a poet for that. No one felt so
deeply as she that poetic art is only at the best the>'
imperfect body in which dwells the poetic soul. No
one felt so deeply as she that as the notes of the
nightingale are but the involuntary expression of the
hind's emotion, and, again, as the perfume of the violet
is but the flower's natural breath, so it is and must be
with the song of the very poet, and that, therefore, to
write beautifully is in a deep and true sense to live
beautifully. In the volume before us, as in all her
previously published writings, we see at its best what
Christianity is as the motive power of poetry. The^
Christian idea is essentially feminine, and of this
feminine quality Christina Rossetti's poetry is full.
In motive power the difference between classic and
Christian poetry must needs be very great. But what-
ever may be said in favour of one as against the other,
this at least cannot be controverted, that the history of
literature shows no human development so beautiful
as the ideal Christian woman of our own day. She
is unique, indeed. Men of science tell us that among
all the fossilized plants we find none of the lovely
family of the rose, and in the same way we should
search in vain through the entire human record for
anything so beautiful as that kind of Christian lady to
whom self-abnegation is not only the first of duties, but
the first of joys. Yet, no doubt, the Christian idea
must needs be more or less flavoured by each person-
ality through which it is expressed. With regard to

igO CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Christina Rossetti, while upon herself Christian dogma
imposed infinite obligations — obligations which could
never be evaded by her without the risk of all the
penalties fulminated by all believers — there was in the
order of things a sort of ether of universal charity for
all others. She would lament, of course, the lapses of
every soul, but for these there was a forgiveness which
her own lapses could never claim. There was, to be
sure, a sweet egotism in this. It was very fascinating,
however.'

She never obtruded her piety, yet I felt instinctively
that I was in the company of a holy woman. In a
copy of her * Verses,' given to me, she wrote in her own
clear handwriting — handwriting firm until four months
before the end —

Faith is like a lily lifted high and white ;

and throughout life she no more doubt;ed the existence of
a state of coming blessedness than the traveller doubts
the existence of the place for which he is bound, when
setting out on a journey ; to her the persons and things
of the future life were realities. Probably this confi-
dence, together with the conviction that God's angel
Death would soon release her from pain, was the reason
of her wonderful — her heroic endurance of suffering ;
while (except during the brief period of melancholy
mentioned previously) she cherished an earnest hope of
heaven for herself in spite of her vivid sense of her own
shortcomings. I shall always feel proud and glad that
I knew personally one of the most lovable women who
ever lived.

191

CHAPTER VI

GENERAL POEMS

« Verses' 1847— Italian Poems— * Death's Chill Between' and 'Heart's
Chill Between ' ('Athenaeum' 1848)— « The Germ '—'Goblin Market and
other Poems ' — * The Prince's Progress and other Poems '— * A Pageant
and other Poems ' — ' New Poems,* edited by Mr. William Michael
Rossetti, 1896, (containing 'A Triad,' 'Cousin Kate,' and 'Sister
Maude ' reprinted from ' Goblin Market and other Poems ') — Italian
Poems.

In my account of Christina Rossetti's poems I shall
in most cases adhere to the order in which she herself
placed them in the various volumes of her verse, reserv-
ing the consideration of the devotional poems in her
respective volumes, ' Goblin Market and other Poems,'
* Prince's Progress and other Poems,' ' A Pageant and
other Poems,' and her posthumous ' New Poems,' to my
chapter on her devotional verse.

Christina Rossetti's first verses, addressed to her
mother on her birthday, were written on April 27, 1842,-
and from that date she wrote verse frequently. By
1847 a considerable quantity of poetry had accumu-
lated, and in that year her grandfather, Gaetano Polidori,
printed privately a small volume of her compositions
under the title of ' Verses,' all of the poems being dated.
The book consists of sixty-six pages, 12 mo. size, and
when first printed, it had only some slight * paper
cover ; * the various recipients therefore bound their copies

192

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

in accordance with their individual taste. As the volume
is now very rare, and becoming increasingly valuable, it
may be of interest to reproduce the type of the title*
page in facsimile : —

VERSES

BY CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI

DEDICATED TO HER MOTHEBi

Perchi temer degg^ to ? San U mie voc%

Inespertef lo so : ma il primo omaggio

D^ accettame la madbb

Percid nan tdegnerd ; ch* anzi assai meglio

Quanta a lei grata ia sano

I! umil dird sempUcUi dd dona*

MbIA67A8IO.

PRIVATBLT PBtNTBD
4T 0« POUDORl'Sy MO. 15, PABX VIIXAOB MAWtf

BS0BNT*f pabb/u>hdov. 1847.

Next comes * A Few Words to the Reader/ signed
* G. Polidori/ in which that gentleman, after remarking

iXi'll I II jM^ii

GENERAL POEMS — 'VERSES* 1 847 1 93

that the contents of the volume had been 'conjposcd
from the age of twelve to sixteen/ says :

* As her maternal grandfather^ I may be excused for
desiring to retain these early spontaneous efforts in a
permanent form, and for having silenced the objections
urged by her modest diffidence, and persuaded her to
allow me to print them for my own gratification at my
own private press ; and though I am ready to acknow-
ledge that the well-known partial affection of a grand-
parent may perhaps lead me to overrate the merit of
her youthful strains, I am still confident that the lovers
of poetry will not wholly attribute my judgment to
partiality.'

The foregoing words are dictated by commonsense,
and it is noteworthy that Gaetano Polidbri, affectionate
grandparent as he undoubtedly was, did not lack critical
discrimination on occasion. Dante Gabriel, with the
mature judgment of fourteen, in a letter to his mother,
called two of Christina's pieces, * Rosalind ' and * Cory-
don's Resolution/ composed at the age of twelve, * very
good.' Gaetano Polidori did not insert these pieces,
however.

Christina's grandfather was justified in printing her
early verses for other reasons than merely grandfatherly
predilection, for these early poems show in a quite
unusual degree, when we recollect the author's age, the
qualities which individualised subsequently all her work,
but more especially all her work in verse. They have
distinct originality of conception and of presentation, a
certain indefinable aloofness from the objects described,
while, at the same time, they manifest* a remarkable
clearness in the delineation of these objects, conjointly
with sumptuousness of imagery.

* The Dead City,' the opening poem, dated April 9,

O

194 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

1847, runs to ten pages, and has all the qualities just
enumerated. The following are the first five stanzas :

Once I rambled in a wood
With a careless hardihood,
Heeding not the tangled way ;
Labyrinths around me lay,
But for them I never stood.

On, still on, I wandered on,
And the sun above me shone ;
And the birds around me winging
With their everlasting singing
Made me feel not quite alone.

In the branches of the trees
Murmured like the hum of bees
The low sound of happy breezes,
Whose sweet voice that never ceases
Lulls the heart to perfect ease.

Streamlets bubbled all around
On the green and fertile ground,
Through the rushes and the grass,
Like a sheet of liquid glass,
With a soft and trickling sound.

And I went, I went on faster.
Contemplating no disaster ;
And I plucked ripe blackberries.
But the birds with envious eyes.
Came and stole them from their master.

Here it may be noted that the word * master,' perhaps
unconsciously introduced for rhyme purposes, shows the
uncertain touch of the beginner. But how beautiful are
the stanzas that quickly succeed, how charged with
foreshadowings of her later, her more mature, style !

M^^"^^*^*^*^^ ^v^lk^Hb^^Md^Vv^^^* J

GENERAL POEMS — 'THE DEAD CITY* ' 1 95

Happy solitude, and blest
With beatitude of rest ;
Where the woods are ever vernal,
And the life and joy eternal,
Without death's or sorrow's test.

O most blessed solitude !

O most full beatitude !

Where are quiet without strife

And imperishable life.

Nothing marred, and all things good.

And the bright sun, life begetting,
Never rising, never setting,
Shining warmly overhead.
Nor too pallid nor too red.
Lulled me to a sweet forgetting —

Sweet forgetting of the time ;
And I listened for no chime,
Which might warn me to begone ;
But I wandered on, still on,
'Ne^th the boughs of oak and lime.

Equally poetic, and perhaps more remarkable, as its
author was only thirteen at the time it was written, is * The
Water Spirit's Song,' dated 1844, where are these lines :

In the silent hour of even.
When the stars are in the heaven.
When in the azure cloudless sky
The moon beams forth all lustrously ;
When over hill and over vale
Is wafted the sweet scented gale ;
When murmurs thro' the forest trees
The cool refreshing evening breeze ;
When the nightingale's wild melody
Is waking herb and flower and tree
From their perfumed and soft repose
To list the praises of the rose

02

196 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

When the ocean sleeps deceitfully ;

When the waves are resting quietly ;

I spread my bright wings, and fly far away

To my beautiful sister's mansion gay :

I leave behind me rock and mountain,

I leave behind me rill and fountain,

And I dive far down in the murmuring sea

Where my fair sister welcomes me joyously ;

For she's Queen of Ocean for ever and ever,

And I of each fountain and still lake and river.

* Summer/ belonging to 1845 — her fifteenth year —
and dated December 4, is more conventional in concep-
tion and treatment, yet none but a poet could have
written such a line as

Round her float the laughing hours.

Less satisfactory is * The Ruined Cross,' appertaining
to her sixteenth year, and dated April 22, for it
shows traces of the influence of Felicia Hemans and
Laetitia Landon in their worst — their most sentimental
moods. More successful is * Love Ephemeral ' (dated
February 25, 1845), while Dante Gabriel was of
opinion that * Mother and Child' (dated January 10,
1 846), — so touching in its mingled simplicity and sweet-*
ness— might have been written by Blake. The some-
what minute analysis of emotion in * Love Attacked *
and *Love Defended,' (dated respectively April 21,
and April 23), is very striking when we recollect that
the two poems were produced in 1846 when the poet
was only fifteen.

* Divine and Human Pleading,' belonging also to
1 846, and dated February 8 — March 30, is very notice-
able if we remember its author's age. A * trembling
contrite man ' pleads * wearily ' :

'DIVINE AND HUMAN PLEADING* 1 9*^

1 would the Saints could hear our prayers !

If such a thing might be,
O blessed Mary Magdalene,

I would appeal to thee !

Presently he has a vision of Mary Magdalene, ^nd
after some fine lines of description, the poem proceeds :

Long time she looked upon the ground ;

Then raising her bright eyes,
Her voice came forth as sweet and soft

As music when it dies :

O thou who in thy secret hour

Hast dared to think that aught
Is faulty in God's perfect plan,

And perfect in thy thought t

Thou who the pleadings wouldst prefer

Of one sin-€tained like me,
To His who is the Lord of Life,

To His who died for thee I

In mercy I am sent from heaven :

Be timely wise, and learn
To seek His love who waits for thee.

Inviting thy return.

Afterwards, in some stanzas, vigorously Worded,
though somewhat unsatisfactory in metre, Mary Magda-
lene tells her own experience, ending :

In hope and fear I went to Him, —

He broke and healed my heart ;
No man was there to intercede.

As I was, so thou art.

As we have seen, the young Rossettis, during child-
hood, read eagerly the best English fiction and poetry
of their day, and two of the poems here, * Sir Eustace

198 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Grey/ descriptive of Crabbe's character of that name,
and ' Eva ' from Maturin's novel ' Women ' (dated
respectively October 14, 1846, and March 18, 1847)
are very vivid transcripts by Christina of the supposed
emotions of two widely different personages. Pro-
bably the best known of the poems contained in the
* Verses * of 1847 is the sonnet entitled * Vanity of Vani-
ties.' * Vanity of Vanities ' has received much and
deserved praise from competent critics. Personally I
recognise to the full its poetic merit Nevertheless, and
I express the opinion with diffidence, it appears to me
slightly morbid and insincere. It must be remembered,
however, that it only purports to be what * the Preacher
saith,' and may not therefore convey what the author
really felt

As might have been expected occasional instances of
imperfect workmanship occur in these immature efforts.
Here and there also are examples of unusual phrasing,
very natural in the case of English poems written at so
early an age by one accustomed from infancy to hear
Italian spoken, and who very often spoke it herself.
*Love Attacked' (dated April 21, 1846) ends with this

stanza :

In answer to my crying,

Sounds like incense

Rose from the earth, replying,

* Indifference.'

An English girl would in all likelihood have been pre«
vented from using * incense ' as a rhyme word with accent
on the second syllable by a recollection of its other
significance.
In the line

Flowers soon must fade away

GENERAL POEMS — 'HEARTS CHILL BETWEEN 1 99

(«Love Ephemeral/ dated March 18, 1847, P- 22) the
opening word becomes a dissyllable. But we must
not forget that this tendency was common among
versifiers of the period.

There are two Italian poems in the book — * Amore e
Dovere * ( * Love and Duty ' ) and * Amore e Dispetto *
( * Love and Scorn * ), inscribed respectively * Begun
February 25, 1845/ ^^^ 'Folkestone, August 21, 1846.'
Both are tuneful, and, as Christina Rossctti's metrical
essays in the language of her ancestors, deeply interesting.

Here may be introduced, on account of their intrinsic
merit, two poems, * Death's Chill Between ' and * Heart's
Chill Between.' They appeared in * The Athenaeum ' of
October 14 and 21, 1848. * Heart's Chill Between ' does
not seem to have been reprinted ; and ^ Death's Chill
Between ' has not appeared since its publication, in 1853,
in a book called * Beautiful Poetry.'

HEART'S CHILL BETWEEN

I did not chide himi though I knew

That he was false to me.
Chide the exhaling of the dew,

The ebbing of the sea,
The fading of a rosy hue —

But not inconstancy.

•

Why strive for love when love is o'er ?

Why bind a restive heart ? —
He never knew the pain I bore

In saying : * We must part ;
Let us be friends and nothing more.'

—Oh, woman's shallow art !

But it is over, it is done, —
I hardly heed it now ;

200 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

So many weary years have run

Since then, I think not how
Things might have been, — but greet each one

With an unruffled brow.

What time I am where others be,

My heart seems very calm —
Stone calm ; but if all go from me,

There comes a vague alarm,
A shrinking in the memory

From some forgotten harm.

And often through the long, long night,

Waking when none are near,
I feel my heart beat fast with fright,

Yet know not what I fear.
Oh how I long to see the light.

And the sweet birds to hear !

To have the sun upon my facet

To look up through the trees.
To walk forth in the open space

And listen to the breeze, —
And not to dream the burial-place

Is clogging my weak knees.

Sometimes I can nor weep nor pray,

But am half stupefied :
And then all those who see me say

Mine eyes are opened wide
And that my wits seem gone away : —

Ah, would that I had died !

Would I could die and be at peace.

Or living could forget !
My grief nor grows nor doth decrease.

But ever is : — ^and yet
Methinks, now, that all this shall cease

Before the sun shall set.

GENERAL POEMS — * DEATH* S CHILL BETWEEN* 20I

DEATH'S CHILL BETWEEN

Chide not ; let me breathe a little,
For I shall not mourn him long ;

Though the life-cord was so brittle,
The love-cord was very strong.

I would wake a little space

Till I find a sleeping-place.

You can go, — I shall not weep ;

You can go unto your rest.
My heart-ache is all too deep.

And too sore my throbbing breast.
Can sobs be, or angry tears,
Where are neither hopes nor fears ?

Though with you I am alone
And must be so everywhere,

I will make no useless moan, —
None shall say ' she could not bear ^

While life lasts I will be strong, —

But I shall not struggle long.

Listen, listen ! Everywhere

A low voice is calling me,
And a step is on the stair,

And one comes you do not see.
Listen, listen ! Evermore
A dim hand knocks at the door.

Hear me ; he is come again, —
My own dearest is come back.

Bring him in from the cold rain ;
Bring wine, and let nothing lack.

Thou and I will rest together,

Love, until the sunny weather.

I will shelter thee from harm, —
Hide thee from all heaviness.

202 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Come to me, and keep thee warm

By my side in quietness.
I will lull thee to thy sleep
With sweet songs : — we will not weep.

Who hath talked of weeping ?— Yet
There is something at my heart,

Gnawing, I would fain forget,
And an aching and a smart

— Ah ! my mother, *tis in vain,

For he is not come again.

Christina Rossetti's surviving brother furnishes me
with some information about these poems :

'The former was first called The Last Hope, 22
Sept [i8]47 ; the latter, Anne of Warwick, 29 Sept
[i8]47. The 2 titles printed in the Athenaeum must
have been adopted with a view to giving the poems, when
printed, a certain flavour of interdependence (Gab[riel]*s
suggestion perhaps).'

'The Germ,' where Christina Rossetti's verse next
appeared in print, has received already so much attention
elsewhere that much space need not be devoted to it
here ; while the facts concerning this magazine, now
famous, though it attracted little attention on its first
appearance, may be summarised briefly. It ran for two
numbers only under the title of * The Germ,' subse-
quently appearing for two more numbers as * Art and
Poetry,* and then ceasing to exist. 'The Germ' was
the organ of the Fraeraphaelite Brotherhood, a band of
young, some of them very young men, and most of them
destined to be celebrated. Four things are chiefly re-
markable about the periodical. First, that so many of
its contributors became eminent ; secondly, the high
character of its contents both from the artistic and the

GENERAL POEMS — * THE GERM ' 203

literary point of view ; thirdly, — although perhaps this is
what might have been expected — its lack of immediate
success ; and fourthly, that in spite of the extreme youth
of some of its literary contributors, they had already
written and contributed to it work that might now
almost be called classic. As instances of this may be
named Dante Gabriel's * My Sister's Sleep,* (there entitled
'Songs of One Household,' and marked No. i), 'The
Blessed Damozel,' and his vivid prose story * Hand and
Soul ' ; William Michael's sonnet * The Evil under the
Sun,' since called * Democracy Downtrodden * ; and
Christina's songs ' Dream Land,' and ' Oh roses for the
flush of youth.' It is noteworthy that in

Before in the old time,

the last line of this exquisite song, not only is the stress
laid upon the article 'the,' but the accentuated word is
followed by a vowel whereby a hiatus occurs, which
renders the line almost immetrical and unscannable.

The first number of ' The Germ ' appeared in January
1850, when Dante Gabriel had not completed his
twenty-second year ; William Michael, acting as editor;
and also as a large contributor, was little more than
twenty, and Christina only nineteen. The names of the
contributors to * The Germ ' were not published in the
text of the magazine, but, beginning with the third
number, were printed on the outside wrapper. Concern-
ing Christina's pseudonym in * The Germ ' of * Ellen
Alleyn,' Mr, William Rossetti has written to me :

* My impression is that C[hristina] placed her poems
at the disposal of G[abriel], to be used (whether with or
without real name) much as G[abriel] chose. He in-
vented and inserted the name " Ellen Alleyn," and only

204 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

after he had done this did C[hristina] know anything
about it'

The last stanza of the poem called ' Dream Land '
runs thus in * The Germ ' :

Rest, rest, for evermore
Upon a mossy shore,
Rest, rest, that shall endure,

Till time shall cease ; —
Sleep that no pain shall wake,
Night that no morn shall break,
Till joy shall overtake

Her perfect peace,

while in Christina Rossetti's * Goblin Market and other
Poems * and her collected * Poems * it stands as :

Rest, rest, for evermore
Upon a mossy shore ;
Rest, rest at the heart's core

Till time shall cease :
Sleep that no pain shall wake,
Night that no mom shall break,
Till joy shall overtake

Her perfect peace.

The lyric can hardly be said to be improved, however,
by the substitution of

Rest, rest at the heart's core

for

Rest, rest, that shall endure.

Among Christina's other contributions to 'The
Germ ' are her powerful poem * A Testimony * founded
on Ecclesiastes ii. i, 2, and perhaps better known by
its opening line

I said of laughter it is vain ;

• An End ' ; and • A Pause of Thought'

* GOBLIN MARKET AND OTHER POEMS ' ^O^

* Goblin Market and other Poems ' was published iq
1862 by Messrs. Macmillan. It contained two designs
drawn on wood-blocks by her brother Dante Gabriel,
both illustrative of lines in the title-poem. The wood-
cut of the first of these designs, facing the title-page, and
illustrating * Buy from us with a golden curl/ was, it has
often been said, cut by William Morris, and was his first
experiment as a wood engraver. This is an error, how-
ever, for William M6rris4iimself told me that the design
was cut not by him, but by the late Charles Joseph
Faulkner, formerly Fellow and Tutor of University
College, Oxford. Mr. Faulkner was at the time a partner
in the artistic firm of Messrs. Morris, Marshall, Faulkner
& Co. The firm's initial^ M. M. F. & Co., appear on
the design, and William Morris thought that this was why
it had been supposed, mistakenly, that he had himself cut
the design. Dante Gabriel's second design forms the
title-page, the centre of it illustrating the words * Golden
head by golden head ' ; as it has been described at con-
siderable length * I shall not further refer to it here beyond
saying that the wood-block was cut by Mr. W. J. Linton.

* Goblin Market and other Poems ' at once achieved
success, and established its author's position as a poet,
though it must be remembered that poems like ' Up-hill,'
* A Birthday,' and * An Apple Gathering,' all of which
had previously appeared in *Macmillan's Magazine,'
had already done much to attract attention to Christina
Rossetti as a poet of both marked performance and
promise. It does not always happen that contemporary
criticism respecting a volume of poems has qualities of
abiding truth, but the verdict on these poems in * The

* See Mr. Sharp's Dante Gabriel Rossetti: a Record and Study ^
p, 106.

206 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

British Quarterly Review ' has, as her brother Winiam
points out, ' stood the test of time.' That organ of
critical opinion said :

* All [the poems] ... are marked by beauty and
tenderness : they are frequently quaint, and sometimes
a little capricious.'

'Goblin Market' was received immediately into
especial favour, and perhaps remains to this day the
most genuinely popular of all Christina Rossetti's
writings. Mrs. Norton, soon after its appearance, com-
pared it to Coleridge's * Ancient Mariner.' * Goblin
Market' — the title was suggested by Dante Gabriel
— may be described briefly as the story of two
sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who are besought by * Gob-
lin merchantmen ' to partake of their fruits. One
sister refuses, while the other sister eats. The goblins
— * malignant spirits ' — by the law of their temptation
do not appear again to anyone who has once partaken
of their fruits. The person who thus partakes is doomed
irrevocably, for this first taste wastes him or her down
to the grave in the longing for a second taste, which
alone can bring restoration to well-being. In this story
the girl who would not herself eat, meets the goblins
once more for the sake of her dying sister, and some
juices from their * goblin fruits ' restore that dying sister
to health.

James Ashcroft Noble, in a penetrative essay called
* The Burden of Christina Rossetti ' in his subtly-wrought
volume, * Impressions and Memories,' after pointing out
that 1862 witnessed also the publication of the 'Last
Poems ' of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, says that ' Goblin
Market ' may be

GENERAL POEMS — * GOBLIN MARKET* 20/

' read and enjoyed merely as a charming fairy-fantasy,
and as such it is delightful and satisfying ; but behind
the simple story of the two children and the goblin
fruit-sellers is a little spiritual drama of love's vicarious
redemption, in which the child redeemer goes into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil, that by her
painful conquest she may succour and save the sister
who has been vanquished and all but slain. The
luscious juices of the goblin fruit, sweet and deadly
when sucked by selfish greed become bitter and medi-
cinal when spilt in unselfish conflict/

This is admirable, and eloquently put, but it may be
questioned whether the critic has not perhaps some-
what overstated the case for didacticism in the poem.

* Goblin Market' was written in April 1859, and the
MS. was entitled originally * A Peep at the Goblins — To
M. F. R,' thus showing the close connection in the
author's mind with her sister, * M. F. R.' being of course
Maria Francesca. Concerning the poem her surviving
brother writes to me :

* I don't remember that there were at that time [the
date at which the poem was written] any personal
circumstances of a marked kind : but I certainly think
(with you) that the lines at the close, " There is nothing
like a sister," etc., indicate something : apparently
C[hristina] considered herself to be chargeable with
some sort of spiritual backsliding, against which Maria's
influence had been exercised beneficially. I have more
than once heard C[hristina] aver that the poem has not
any profound or ulterior meaning — it is just a fairy
story : yet one can discern that it implies at any rate
this much — That to succumb to a temptation makes
one a victim to that same continuous temptation ; that
the remedy does not always lie with oneself ; and that
a stronger and more righteous will may prove of avail
to restore one's lost estate.'

As the design illustrative of the words * Buy from us

208 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

With a golden curl ' has been dealt with fully by Mn
Sharp in his monograph recently mentioned, it is need-*
less to discuss it here at great length. One aspect of
the design demands however a moment's comment.
Not infrequently I have heard the artist censured
because he had made the goblin animals of hideous
aspect, whereas vice is usually made seductive at least
in appearance. But such an observation comes from
misconception of the facts, for, as the artist's younger
brother remarked very properly when I told him of
these cavils :

* It is C[hristina] who says what the Goblins were
like — wombat, ratel, etc., etc. — Gabriel figures a cat, an
owl, and a cockatoo — 3 beautiful animals— and figures
them properly ; also a wombat and a rat, which
are animals far from ugly. Between wombat and
cockatoo comes a speckled animal, not exactly pretty,
nor meant to be so : it is a sun fish which belonged to
my brother, and the like of which, (gilded) is at this
moment hanging above my head — Cfhristina] does not
tell us that the animals were seductive in aspect, nor is
there any reason why they should be (rather the con-
trary) — but that \!ci€\x fruits were seductive.'

I suggested to the same gentleman that perhaps the
great fondness of Dante Gabriel for all anipials, and not
less for animals with something grotesque or eccentric
about them, might have caused his sister, when arranging
in her mind what forms her * goblin merchantmen ' were
to assume, to recollect the strange animals, such as the
wombat and the ratel — which, had it not been for her
brother's predilection, probably would never have come
under her notice — and to give to her * goblin merchant-
men ' some of their characteristics. But he answered
immediately :

GENERAL POEMS — * GOBLIN MARKET* 1 893 209

* It would be a mistake to think that C[hristina]
caught from Gabriel a fancy for odd-looking animals —
She had it equally herself — She knew Wombat and
Ratel at the Zoological Gardens : Gabriel never
possessed a Ratel, nor a Wombat until several years
after C[hristina] wrote " Goblin M[arket]." — It was
C[hristina] and I who jointly discovered the Wombat
in the Zoological Gardens — From. us (more especially
myself) Gabriel, [Sir Edward] Burne-Jones, and other
wombat enthusiasts, ensued, such is my reminiscence and
belief

In 1893 Messrs. Macmillan issued 'Goblin Market'
separately in 8vo. form, illustrated by Mr. Laurance
Housmann. Thus presented, it makes a dainty little
volume in its green and gold cover, and, though the
illustrations have not the unique interest belonging
to the two illustrations Dante Gabriel did for the
poem, they are not without interest of their own.
The title-page of this edition is noteworthy. In the
centre, and above, we see the goblin merchantmen, who
display their wares, invitingly, while at the foot of the
picture Laura and Lizzie are seated. Laura looks at
the fruit, longingly, while Lizzie covers her eyes, presum-
ably to keep out the too seductive sight

Opposite the passage in the poem containing an

emimeration of the various fruits, and opening with the

lines - , , .

Apples and quinces

Lemons and oranges,

we have a full page illustration representing the gathering
of the fruit. The picture gives effectively the subtle
atmosphere of the poem. The conflict with the goblins
is excellently rendered, and the flight of Lizzie, in
order that Laura might get some of the. juice after
the goblins had squeezed the fruit on her mouth, is well

P

210 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

done; Set to music by the competent hands of Mr.
Aguilar ' Goblin Market ' has become also a fine cantata.
Under the title of ' II Mercato de' Folleti/ it was trans-
lated into Italian by Christina Rossetti's cousin, Signor
Teodorico Pietrocola Rossetti, and published in Florence
in 1867.

Christina Rossetti's consummate skill in setting forth
diverse moods of poetry — moods rarely found in the
same poet — is seen strikingly in such a poem as * When
I was dead my spirit turned/ a poem for which her
brother Dante Gabriel suggested the not very happy title
of* At Home.' We feel almost the presence of the dis-
embodied spirit in such verses as : —

I listened to their honest chat :

Said one : * To-morrow we shall be
Plod, plod along the featureless sands

And coasting miles and miles of sea.'
Said one : * Before the turn of tide

We will achieve the eyrie-seat.'
Said one : * To-morrow shall be like

To-day, but much more sweet*

« • • . •

I shivered comfortless, but cast

No chill across the table-cloth ;
I all-forgotten shivered sad

To stay and yet to part how loth :
I passed from the familiar room ;

I who from love had passed away,
Like the remembrance of a guest

That tarrieth but a day.

This is the result of the blending of a reah'sm equal to,
or even greater, than that of Crabbe with a deep though
indefinable mysticism. Other poems of the same cldss,
though with a more distinct love interest, are the sonnet
'After Death,' (remarkable for vivid presentment of

GENERAL POEMS — LOVE POETRY 211

ordinary objects and the quaint Italian touch of the last

line

To know he still is warm though I am cold) ;

* The Hour and the Ghost,' revealing, in addition to these
qualities, command over dialogue, a difficult form to
write in ; and * Dead before Death.'

Love poetry is a conspicuous feature in the volume
under consideration. In the original manuscript, dated
in Christina's own handwriting ' 12th December 1848,' of

* When I am dead, my dearest ' now in my possession,
and appearing in facsimile on p. 147, the stanzas are
written without a break, and the fourteenth line runs

That doth nor rise nor set

instead of

That doth not rise nor set

in the printed version. There are, besides, six variations
in punctuation. Some critics have held that the metre
of this song is a glad metre, and the metre is used to
imply a certain chastened gladness in the thought of
death. But such an opinion savours of super-subtlety.
One afternoon, when I was speaking to Mr. William
Rossetti about this song, he quoted the lines

Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget,

and added : * You see Christina does not say there will not
be recognition after the Resurrection, for then she was
quite certain there would be recognition. She only
expresses uncertainty on the point during the interme-
diate state after death and before the Resurrection.'

* Do you think,' I said, * that your sister, a great poet,
always subordinated the wording of her poems to her

views as to theological doctrine ? '

p 2

212 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* I do not sa}''/ he answered, * that Christina never
/ used a merely poetic phrase ; but I do say that in the

main she kept strictly to what she considered theological

truth.'

Dated August 9, 1854, *The Convent Threshold'

has, presumably, a reference to an Italian blood feud,

and has been truly called by Dante Gabriel a * splendid

piece of feminine ascetic passion/ Despite, however,

my profound admiration for this really great poem, I

cannot help thinking that the phrase * My lily feet ' in

the line

My lily feet are soiled with mud

gives a touch of insincerity to the passage where it occurs.
Surely no woman in actual life, leaving her lover in such
tragic circumstances, would so describe her feet — the
emotion — the passion, would entirely do away with the
thought which this language expresses. I make no
apology for my word of demur. Admiration has called
it forth, for, as Mrs. Meynell has truly said :

* In this poem — it is impossible not to dwell on
such a masterpiece — without imagery ; without beauty
except that which is inevitable (and what beauty is
more costly ?) ; without grace, except the invincible grace
of impassioned poetry ; without music, except the ulti-
mate music of the communicating word, she utters that
immortal song of love and that cry of more than earthly
fear ; a song of penitence for love that yet praises love
more fervently than would a chorus hymeneal.'

* The Convent Threshold ' is not based on any real
incident.

Among other love poems are the exquisite sonnets
called * Rest * and * Remember * ; the lyrics entitled ' An
End;' 'A Birthday,' written November 18, 1857; the

GENERAL POEMS — 'A TRIAD 213

unspeakably beautiful lines beginning ' Come to me in
the silence of the night ; * * Three Seasons/ and ' May.'
The brief ballad * Maude Clare ' renders vividly a strong
situation, and shows a keen perception and insight into
the love passion. Readers of his * Letters ' will recollect
that her brother Dante Gabriel did not admire * No thank
you, John/ a lyric depicting a woman's total indifference
towards a suitor for her hand, couched (a rare thing with
Christina ! ) in a light vein, but many — myself among
the number — will not agree with him.

Three notable poems — the sonnet, * A Triad/ and two
remarkable ballads, * Cousin Kate * and * Sister Maude * —
which appeared in this volume, were omitted by the
author from her collected works from conscientious
reasons. She was perhaps unduly sensitive in this
matter. Concerning * A Triad ' Mr. W. M. Rossetti has
written to me :

' I don't remember having heard her make any ex-
press statement about her motives for burking Triad ;
but am clear that they proceeded more or less on a
notion that the sonnet might be misconstrued, or unfavour-
ably construed, from a moral point of view ; the perfectly
respectable wife, who " bloomed like a tinted hyacinth at
a show," was " a sluggish wife," and " droned in sweetness/
being evidently regarded with less sympathy than her
less decorous colleagues. There was a painter, George
Chapman, known to Gabriel and me, and in a minor
degree to C[hristina]. He painted a picture of the
Triad : and I think it quite possible that something may
have been said by him, or in his set, which impressed
C[hristina] with this notion of contingent misconstruction.
Of course I consider that she was wrong in suppressing
the poem ; wiredrawn scrupulosity was one of her mani-
fest infirmities, if also of her quasi-virtues.*

My correspondent includes * A Triad,' ' Cousin Kate ' and
* Sister Maude ' in * New Poems.*

214 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

One of the most striking examples of nature poetry
is * Twilight Calm/ which, though in motive quite
original, shows the influence of Wordsworth. Here is
a touch of Wordsworthian realism :

The cock has ceased to crow, the hen to cluck,
Only the fox is out, some heedless duck
Or chicken to surprise.

The rather weak inversion of

some heedless duck
Or chicken to surprise

mars somewhat the beauty of the passage. Fine ex-
amples of Christina's unconventional treatment of con-
ventional themes arc seen in * Winter Rain/ and * Another
Spring.*

Mr. Watts-Dunton has pointed out how excellent is
' An Apple Gathering ' in its perfect presentment of a
moral conception, and certainly the poem must take
rank among Christina Rossetti's masterpieces. It is,
however, too well known to require detailed analysis
here. She wrote as follows in an annotated copy of the
volume as to that powerful poem ' My Dream ' :

* " My Dream " was merely a poetic fancy and was
not a dream at all.'

This note is all the more interesting from the fact that
the poem has every appearance of being a veritable dream.
* Up-hill,* another masterpiece, written June 29, 1858,
might have been regarded as one of her * Devotional
Pieces,' had not the poet elected to place it among her
secular poems. A brief sixteen-line poem, it reveals
quaintly, with one flash of genius, a whole philosophy of
life.

In 1866 Messrs. Macmillan published her second

GENERAL POEMS — ' THE PRINCESS PROGRESS ' 215-

volume of verse, * The Prince's Progress and other
Poems.' Reference has already been made to Mr.
Edmund Gosse's article on Christina Rossetti in his
* Critical Kit Kats.* Therein Mr. Gosse very justly
expresses surprise that * The Prince's Progress,' * where
the parable and the teaching are as clear as noonday,'
has never been popular. Even in literal fact there is
enough truth in this statement to make it needful to say
briefly that the poem describes how a prince, lured from
his rightful path at first by light pleasures, and after-
wards by the pursuit of the elixir of life, fails to reach his
destined bride until she is dead. The greatness of this
noble poem lies in its subtle poetic atmosphere — a poetic
atmosphere which is beyond the reach of exact definition,
but which enshrines it among the great poems of the
century. It gains in intensity of passion as it proceeds
until we forget its occasional metrical ruggednesses. The
title-page of the volume and the design opposite were
drawn by Dante Gabriel and engraved by Mr. W. J.
Linton.

An early version of the closing stanzas of 'The
Prince's Progress,' beginning with the line * Too late for
love, too late for joy,' were printed in * Macmillan's
Magazine ' for May 1863, under the title of ' The Fairy
Prince who arrived too late.' In this version there are
three noteworthy variants from* the final form. The
lovely stanza : —

Ten years ago, five years ago,

One year ago,
Even then you had arrived in time.

Though somewhat slow ;
Then you had known her living face

Which now you cannot know :

2l6 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

The frozen fountain would have leaped,

The buds gone on to blow,
The warm south wind would have awaked

To melt the snow —

there ran as follows :

Ten years ago, five years ago,

One year ago,
Even then you had arrived in time.

Though somewhat slow.
The frozen fountain would have leaped.

The buds gone on to blow,
The warm south wind would have awaked

To melt the snow,
And life have been a cordial ' Yes,'

Instead of dreary * No.*

This IS obviously an inferior form, while the lines —

Now these are poppies in her locks —
and

Lo, we who love weep not to-day

begin respectively

Now those are poppies in her locks,

and

So, we who love weep not to-day.

The exquisite love poetry contained in the book
under consideration must next claim our attention.
Chief among the poems of this class is * Maiden-Song,'
the story of Margaret, Meggan and May, a sprightly lyric
of not inconsiderable length — full of joy and unshadowed
bj' grief— so full of joy, indeed, that for this reason alone,
it stands out pre-eminently among its author's best work.
About it is a touch of fairy lore, that distinguishing
touch of fairy lore rare even in good poetry, rare even in
Christina Rossetti's poetry, a something present only in

-T i TT - ■ 1 amn- »-tin-r im Ttim ss^B^

GENERAL POEMS * MAIDEN-SONG ' 217

poetry of a certain class, and even then only in the
highest poetry of that class. Take the first stanza :

Long ago and long ago

And long ago still,
There dwelt three merry maidens

Upon a distant hill.
One was tall Meggan,

And one was dainty May,
But one was fair Margaret,

More fair than I can say,
Long ago' and long ago.

Apparently by the simple expedient of the repetition

Long ago and long ago^

a fascinating sense of remoteness is conveyed ; I say
apparently^ advisedly, for in truth there is art of an ethereal
sort in the arrangement of the poem — a perfect poem,
in spite of its seeming negligence, both as to rhymeless
lines and as to metre. Particularly noticeable also is the
influence which * birds ' * beasts * and * fishes ' exercise in
this as in others of Christina's poems. How daring, yet
how successful is this simile respecting Margaret, when
Meggan and May go on their quest, in search of

Strawberry leaves and May-dew.

Margaret is described as

Fragrant-breathed as milky cow,
Or field of blossoming bean.

Meantime * light-foot May * with her companion rested
during the heat of the day, while

Creeping things among the grass,
Stroked them here and there ;

Presently the sisters sing, and * honey-mouthed ' is * the
double flow.'

2l8 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Then follows a declaration of love to Meggan by ' a
herdsman from the vale ' and to May by * a shepherd
from the height' Both accept their lovers. By-and-
by, Margaret, awaiting her sisters' return, leant on the
garden gate :

The slope was lightened by her eyes

Like summer lightning fair.
Like rising of the haloed moon

Lightened her glimmering hair.

Later she also sang. * The King of all that country '

heard her, and

claimed her for his bride.
So three maids were wooed and won

In a brief May-tide,
Long ago and long ago.

It is interesting to find from the * Family Letters * of
Dante Gabriel that Mr. Gladstone once recited this poem,
and it is easy to fancy how vivid the poem must have
seemed as heard from his lips.

Entirely in a different key is ' Songs in a Cornfield,'
full of forcible description, though occasionally marred
by prosaic lines, such as

He'll not find her at all.

Christina Rossetti, in a published letter, designates
* Songs in a Cornfield ' as one of the most successful
pieces in her * Prince's Progress ' volume.

A * Ring Posy ' and * Beauty is Vain ' should be
mentioned in this connection. The former treats the
love sentiment with a playful humour, which, as has
been indicated before, is seldom employed by this
poet.; the latter perhaps can hardly be properly called

GENERAL POEMS — *A ROYAL PRINCESS* 219

a love poem at all. Yet inferentially it deals with the
love sentiment in that mournful (some would call it
morbid) vein peculiar to its author.

Here, as in her previous volume, she deals with the
supernatural. * The Poor Ghost,' and * The Ghost's
Petition,' for instance, bring out vividly the contrast
between the living and the dead, and show a power of
depicting — almost revealing — the supernatural, which of
itself would place Christina Rossetti high among poets.
Probably none of her idyls — idyls showing always a real
narrative gift — are finer than * Lady Maggie * and
* Jessie Cameron ' or * A Farm Walk.' ' Twice,* a poem
full of devotional feeling, may here be alluded to. Its
passion is none the less intense from being expressed so
simply.

In a brief note, which lies before me, written from
1 66 Albany Street probably in 1861 or 1862, addressed
to Dante Gabriel, Christina says : — * I am taking your
advice and leaving Twice amongst the miscellaneous :
thank you so heartily for all kind trouble.*

This implies that it was her first intention to place
Twice (now among the ' Miscellaneous Pieces ')
among the * Devotional Poems * at the close of the
volume. The note is a further evidence of the advice
which, as mentioned before, was given to her by Dante
Gabriel regarding the arrangement of her ^wo\firstJ
volumes of poems.

Sympathy with the poor Christina always hac^, and,
were her poems more concerned with social problems,
it would be more apparent in them. * A Royal Princess '
is, however, the single instance I know where Chris-
tina Rossetti frankly avows democratic sentiments.
For although the poem is dramatic, there can be little

220 . CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

doubt that a certain degree of personal predilection is ex-
hibited. The poem incisively shows the satiety which
arises from ceaseless luxury. The vigorous narrative
poem, ' Under the Rose/ composed perhaps at as late a
date as July 1866, is written in the first person. It tells,
with much strength of delineation, the familiar story of
a high-born woman's shame and the suffering entailed
on her innocent child. In the volume of Christina's
collected 'Poems' published in 1875, and in all subse-
quent editions of her collected works, the title was
changed to *The Iniquity of the Fathers upon the
Children.' During one of my interviews with her
brother subsequent to Christina Rossetti's death, in
answer to a question I had put to him respecting this
change, he said :

* I think the reason why Christina changed the title
of "Under the Rose" was because she felt that that
title might expose her to the inference of having treated
a serious subject somewhat lightly. Gabriel suggested
" Upon the Children," but she thought that somewhat
ambiguous, and in this I agree with her, although I
also agree in thinking " The Iniquity of the Fathers
upon 3ie Children" is too long. But as I told you
before, [he had previously alluded to it] I think the
story is probably based on some recollection of " Bleak
House." "Bleak House" had appeared before the
poem was written.'

Then, turning to her own annotated copy of her
poems, on a bookshelf near, he opened it, and read to
me the following note about the poem in her own hand-
writing :

* This was all fancy, but Mrs. Scott [Mrs. William
Bell Scott] afterwards told me of a somewhat similar
fact'

GENERAL POEMS — ' CHILD's TALK IN APRIL* 221

In reference to the lyric addressed to L. E. L., Mr. W.
M. Rossetti has written to me :

* I regard L. E. L. as the merest fancy title — In my
opinion the poem is a dejected outpouring of C[hristina]'s
own — When the question of publishing it arose, she did
not want it to figure as strictly personal, and so called
it L. E. L;

Of the many lovely Nature poems in this volume
my preference lies with * Child's Talk in April ' from
which I cannot refrain from quoting some stanzas.

I wish you were a pleasant wren,

And I your small accepted mate ;
How we'd look down on toilsome men !

We*d rise and go to bed at eight

Or it may be not quite so late.

• « • ■ • .

Perhaps some day there'd be an egg
When spring had blossomed from the snow :

rd stand triumphant on one leg ;
Like chanticleer I'd almost crow
To let our little neighbours know.

Next you should sit and I would sing
Through lengthening days of sunny spring ;

Till, if you wearied of the task,
I'd sit ; and you should spread your wing

From bough to bough ; I'd sit and bask.

Fancy the breaking of the shell.
The chirp, the chickens wet and bare,

The untried proud paternal swell ;
And you with housewife-matron air
Enacting choicer bills of fare.

Fancy the embryo coats cJf down,
The gradual feathers soft and sleek ;

Till clothed and strong from tail to crown,
With virgin warblings in their beak,
They too go forth to soar and seek.

222 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Otker notable nature poems are 'Gone for Ever/
' Spring Quiet/ and * A Chill.' ' Autumn ' is perhaps one
of the most striking examples we possess of Christina's
characteristic melancholy. Its pensive cadences, so
exquisite in their rhythmical flow, linger in the mind.
Doubtless the poem is highly symbolical. Listen to
these opening stanzas. The remarkable metrical effects
that result from the rhyming of the first and seventh
lines may possibly have attracted Mr. Swinburne's
attention, and caused him to attempt cadences, some-
what similar in measure, though even more difficult.

I dwell alone — I dwell alone, alone,

Whilst full my river flows down to the sea.
Gilded with flashing boats
That bring no friend to me :
O love-songs gurgling from a hundred throats,
O love-pangs, let me be.

Fair fall the freighted boats which gold and stone

And spices bear to sea :
Slim, gleaming maidens swell their mellow notes.

Love promising, entreating —

Ah ! sweet, but fleeting —

Beneath the shivering, snow-white sails.

Hush ! the wind flags and fails —
Hush ! they will lie becalmed in sight of strand —

Sight of my strand, where I do dwell alone ;
Their songs wake singing echoes in my land —

They cannot hear me moan.

The curious sympathy she felt with inhabitants of
the earth other than mankind is brought out forcibly in
the subjoined lines from * Eve.'

Thus she sat weeping,
Thus Eve our Mother,
Where one lay sleeping
Slain by his brother.

GENERAL POEMS — * LIFE AND DEATH ' 223

Greatest and least
Each piteous beast
To hear her voice
Forgot his joys
And set aside his feast.

The mouse paused in his walk

And dropped his wheaten stalk ;

Grave cattle wagged their heads

In rumination ;

The eagle gave a cry

From his cloud station ;

Larks on thyme beds

Forbore to mount or sing ;

Bees drooped upon the wing ;

The raven perched on high

Forgot his ration ;

The conies in their rock,

A feeble nation,

Quaked sympathetical ;

The mocking-bird left off to mock ;

Huge camels knelt as if

In deprecation ;

The kind hart's tears were falling ;

Chattered the wistful stork ;

Dove-voices with a dying fall

Cooed desolation.

Christina Rossetti's mental attitude towards death —
an unusual, and somewhat morbid attitude — will be seen
strikingly in this first stanza from the strong nature
poem ' Life and Death ' :

life is not sweet One day it will be sweet

To shut our eyes and die :
Nor feel the wild flowers blow, nor birds dart by

With flitting butterfly,
Nop grass grow long abo^ our heads and feet
Nor hear the happy lark that soars sky high,

224 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Nor sigh that spring is fleet and summer fleet.

Nor mark the waxing wheat.
Nor know who sits in our accustomed seat

'A Pageant and other Poems' was published by
Messrs. Macmillan in August i8Si as has been already
mentioned. Concerning the title-poem *The British
Quarterly Review ' said :

* The *' Pageant '* is full of grace and fancifulness ;
there is a playful freshness in it ; it abounds in delicate
pictures, which claim for themselves a place apart in the
imagination/

while ' The Guardian ' remarked respecting its author :

* She breathes habitually the atmosphere of wonder
and aspiration. But she is also a student of high
Iiterar\' models, and can express herself on an occasion
with the clearness, directness, and precision which
are the usual indications of a thoroughly trained
mind.'

* The Westminster Review ' percei\-ed :

* Vcr\- good work in Miss Rossctti s new volume of
poems/

while • The Dailv News ' found that

* .\ more finished grace, however, is perhaps trace-
able in some of these pieces than she has hitherto
attained. . . Characterized bv a sfrave tenderness.*

.A sonnet addressed to the author s mother desig-
nated risjhtl}* by Dante Gabriel as ' lo\"ely in its heart-
felt affection/ and a brief l\Tic called ' The Key Note *
ic\-caHnv:^ both the poet"? sadness and her consolation in
the contemplation of nature opeji the book. The title-
poem callcil ' The Mv>nths : A Pageant ' nins to twentj--
two iMgos, and is in the form of a masque, in which the

GENERAL POEMS — 'A PAGEANT* 225

'personifications' of January, March, July, August,
October, and December are assumed by boys, and
February, April, May, June, September, and November,
by girls. The stage directions are ample and interest-
ng, and, properly mounted, it should be a very pictur-
esque little play for children. It has been played in
America at least once, and probably elsewhere. Each
of the months from January to December has suitable
attributes, and many of the interspersed lyrics have
special beauty. Here and there, however, some of the
lines are rugged. ' A Pageant ' holds a unique place
among Christina's long poems ; it is cheerful throughout,
with not a single note reminding the reader of sorrow.
Among a group of poems descriptive of nature, * Freaks
of Fashion ' — a humorous recital of how the birds met
and discussed as to what were the more fashionable
garments to wear — is prominent. The beautiful lyric,

* An October Garden,' is pervaded by subtle moum-
fulness ; while the last stanza of the lovely and pathetic

* Death Watches ' merits quotation :

The cloven East brings forth the sun,

The cloven West doth bury him.
What time his gorgeous race is run

And all the world grows dim ;
A funeral moon is lit in heaven's hollow,
And pale the star-lights follow.

The somewhat longer poem * An Old-World Thicket,'
having Dante's phrase * . . . Una selva oscura ' as motto,
is full of chfistened symbolism.

Christina had a distinct faculty for writing simple,^
direct tales in verse, with a touch of half-unconscious
regret in them, and it is a pity that she has given us
so few of these. ' Johnny,' which appears in this volume

Q

226 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

— an anecdote of the first French Revolution — ^is a
fine example. Very powerful are the ballads here.
* Brandons Both ' tells the love story of Milly Brandon
and her cousin Walter. Though necessarily dramatic
in form, it would not, I think, be unwarrantable to con-
clude that in —

Milly has no mother ; and sad beyond another
Is she whose blessed mother is vanished out of call :

Truly comfort beyond comfort is stored up in a Mother
Who bears with all, and hopes through all, and loves us all —

there is an allusion to the mother who was never long
absent from Christina's thoughts. The first line of
each stanza has occasionally an internal rhyme, and the
metre is the same as in Jean Ingelow's exquisite
' Requiescat in Pace.' Is it unreasonable to suppose
that the measure was suggested by a poem which first
appeared in November 1863, nearly eighteen years
before the publication of *The Pageant and other
Poems'? Somewhat similar in motive to 'Sleep at
Sea ' is * A Ballad of Boding/ where the writer has a
vision of three ships — * Love ship/ *Worm ship/ and a
* third ship/ and what befell them and their crews. The
poem ends finely thus :

There was sorrow on the sea and sorrow on the land

When Love ship went down by the bottomless quicksand

To its grave in the bitter wave.

There was sorrow on the sea and sorrow on the land

When Worm ship went to pieces on the rock-bound strand.

And the bitter wave was its grave.

But land and sea waxed hoary

In whiteness of a glory

Never told in story

Nor seen by mortal eye.

When the third ship crossed the bar

Where whirls and breakers are

GENERAL POEMS — * MONNA INNOMINATA * 227

And steered into the splendours of the sky ;

That third bark and that least

Which had never seemed to feast,

Yet kept high festival above sun and moon and star.

Two of the chief glories of this volume are the noble
sonnet sequences named respectively, * Monna Inno-
minata,' and * Later Life.' * Monna Innominata '
suggests comparison with Elizabeth Barrett Browning's
* Sonnets from the Portuguese.' But such a comparison
may be reserved to Chapter X., where a critical survey
of Christina Rossetti's work is attempted.

' Monna Innominata ' is a series of fourteen sonnets
supposed to be written by one of the ' unnamed ladies,
" donne innominate," sung by a school of less conspicuous
poets ' than Dante and Petrarch. Prefixed to it is a
very interesting prose note, the close of which is given
below :

* Had such a lady spoken for herself, the portrait left
us might have appeared more tender, if less dignified,
than any drawn even by a devoted friend. Or had the
Great Poetess of our own day and nation only been
unhappy instead of happy, her circumstances would
have invited her to bequeath to us, in lieu of the
Portuguese Sonnets, an inimitable " donna innominata "
drawn not from fancy but from feeling, and worthy to
occupy a niche beside Beatrice and Laura. '

Each of the fourteen sonnets is introduced by an
appropriate quotation from Dante and Petrarch.

It was indeed a happy inspiration to make this
* donna innominata ' speak for herself. When all are
so beautiful it is difHcult to select special sonnets for
mention. The second, and one of the most lovely
sonnets of the series, has an almost identical motive to
that of Mrs. Meynell's strong poem, ' An Unmarked

Q 2

^

228 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Festival. It is merely a literary coincidence, however
for Mrs. Meynell informs me that it was only when
writing the essay on Christina Rossetti's poetry, mentioned
elsewhere, that she first read the sonnet in question.
Then she was herself impressed by the identity of the
fundamental idea.

Here are the opening lines of Sonnet 4.

* Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda.' — Dante.

* Ogni altra cosa, ogni pensier va fore,

E sol ivi con voi rimansi amore.* — Petrarca.

I loved you first : but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song

As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.
Which owes the other most ? my love was long,
And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong.

The concluding lines of No. S are the perfect
expression of a noble woman's love-passion :

So much for you ; but what for me, dear friend ?

To love you without stint and all I can
To-day, to-morrow, world without an end ;

To love you much and yet to love you more^
As Jordan at his flood sweeps either shore ;
Since woman is the helpmeet made for man.

How delicately worded is the thought "here. I quote
again, this time the closing lines of Sonnet 6 :

Yet while I love my God the most, I deem
That I can never love you overmuch ;

I love Him more, so let me love you too ;
Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such
[ cannot love you if I love not Him,
I cannot love Him if I love not you.

But to my thinking the noblest sonnet of the whole is
No. 12. It reveals the absorbing love which casts out

'^sr^sr

GENERAL POEMS — 'LATER LIFE 229

selfishness. An excerpt is not made from it merely
because it seems to me that the sonnet ought to be
read in'its entirety. The exquisite love sonnet, * Touch-
ing Never/ which occupies a separate place in the
volume deserves mention ; while * Passing and Glassing '
has a somewhat similar central idea to ' Beauty is Vain.'
In Chapters II. and X. some attention has been
given to the fine sequence of twenty-eight sonnets
entitled * Later Life ' ; therefore a comparatively brief
reference must suffice here. The fifteenth sonnet
suggests Christina's views respecting the problem of the
sexes. How noble is the conclusion :

Did Adam love his £ve from first to last?
I think so ; as we love who works us ill,
And wounds us to the quick, yet loves us still.

Love pardons the unpardonable past :

Love in a dominant embrace holds fast
His frailer self, and saves without her will.

' An " Immurata" Sister/ one of the poems in this
volume not in sonnet form, has the following char-
acteristic reference to women •

Men work and think, but women feel ;

And so (for I'm a woman, I)

And so I should be glad to die
And cease from impotence of zeal.

It is worthy of note that the foregoing lines were
originally written as part of Christina's • En Route ' — a
poem which did not appear in full until the publication
of her posthumous * New Poems.'

The final sonnet of ' Later Life ' is a worthy climax
to the exalted train of thought throughout the sequence.
Listen to the music of these lines, lines original and
strong, about death :

230 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

*

In life our absent friend is far away :
But death may bring our friend exceeding near,
• ••••••

The dead may be around us, dear and dead ;
The unforgotten dearest dead may be
Watching us with unslumbering eyes and heart
Brimful of words which cannot yet be said.

Brimful of knowledge they may not impart.
Brimful of love for you and love for me.

Though Christina's sonnets are in the Petrarchan
form in none of them is there a separation between the
octave and the sestet, and in one of the noblest of them,

* After Communion/ there are certain divei^nces from
the customary position of the respective rhymes. It is
however unnecessary to dwell here at length on minute
points of sonnet construction ; let us recall her brother
GabrieFs remark that fundamental brain-work in a
sonnet far outweighs any irregularity of construction.

The arrangement of the contents of Christina
Rossetti's first collected edition of general * Poems *
(1875) requires some little elucidatory remark. The
book consisted of the poems which had appeared in the

* Goblin Market ' and the * Prince's Progress ' volumes,
the chief poems in point of length and importance being
usually placed first, followed by the devotional poems
not arranged in a section by themselves as formerly.

Christina included here for the first time some notable
poems which had previously been published in maga-
zines. The chief of these is, perhaps, her choicest lyrical
masterpiece, * Amor Mundi.' As its title suggests, this
poem is an allegory of how love of the world leads
inevitably to destruction. Printed originally during
1865 in the first volume of *The Shilling Magazine, it
was there illustrated by Mr. F. A. Sandys. Mr. Sandys's

GENERAL POEMS — * AMOR MUNDI ' 23I

wood-cut illustration, though somewhat hard in some
of its details, has many excellent qualities. The lovers
are seen advancing, the man playing on a lute, the
woman gazing into a looking-glass. In front, but as
yet unseen by them, are the * scaled and hooded worm,'
creeping among the brushwood, and the 'thin dead
body' — the latter effectively though not repulsively
delineated. The woman is turning and will soon catch
a glimpse of * seven ' small masses of * grey cloud-flakes '
just at the rainy * skirt.' Besides some variations in
punctuation, not of sufHcient moment to be dealt with,
the first two lines of the last stanza appear as :

Turn again, O my sweetest, — turn again, false and fleetest :
This way thereof thou weetest I fear is helFs own track.

Students of Christina Rossetti will recollect that the
corresponding lines in the 1875 edition of her * Poems,'
as well as in the 1884 and 1888 editions and also in
the general * Poems ' of 1890, are :

Turn again, O my sweetest, — turn again, false and fleetest :
This beaten way thou beatest, I fear is hell's own track.

Something may be said in favour of * the way
thereof thou weetest ' rather than * the beaten way thou
beatest.'

Another of the poems included for the first time is
the lovely sonnet, * Venus's Looking Glass,' written in
the Elizabethan manner ; and especially noticeable for
various reasons are the nature poem, * Bird Raptures,*
and the sonnets, ' Love Lies Bleeding ' and * To-day's
Burden.' * To-day for Me ' has been described by her
brother Dante Gabriel as * the greatest of all her poems.*
The expression of individual opinion from so competent
a critic must of course have weight Nevertheless it

232 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

seems to me that neither in intensity of feeling nor in
sublimity of subject does the poem reach her highest
level.

In the first complete edition of her general ' Poems '
(1890) the arrangement of the 1875 edition was pre-
served and entitled * First Series/ while the contents of
the volume called * A Pageant and other Poems' (1881)
followed them, and were called 'Second Series.' To
the 1890 volume she added a vivid narrative poem

* Brother Bruin,' a story of a dancing bear. This poem
is particularly interesting as betokening her versatility',
and as showing that she could be as quietly realistic as
Cowper. The bear's master is cruel, and the poor
dancing bear dies sadly. His master,

His idle working days gone past,

goes to the workhouse.

There he droned on— a grim old sinner
Toothless and grumbling for his dinner,
Unpitied quite, uncared for much
(The ratepayers not favouring such).
Hungry and gaunt, with time to spare :
Perhaps the hungry gaunt old Bear
Danced back, a haunting memory.
Indeed I hope so : for you see
If once the hard old heart relented
The hard old man may have repented.

This definitive edition also contained for the first time

* To-day's Burden.'

The question as to whether a poet ought to give to the
world only his best, or whether, his or her rank being
assured, it is permissible to print work which, though
it reaches a certain standard of metrical craftsmanship,
may yet in some cases fall short of perfect excellence, is

GENERAL POEMS * NEW POEMS ' 233

a question that has been asked often, and will continue to

be asked. To this, as to most, if not all, of the questions

in higher criticism, no final answer can be returned. The

answer in each case ought to depend on the position of the

poet, and it will also be determined in each case to a large

extent by the idiosyncrasy of the critic. Personally I

am of opinion that Christina Rossetti's place as a poet

warrants the publication of much, if not all, the work

included in the posthumous * New Poems,' already

briefly referred to ; and I am grateful to Mr. W. M.

Rossetti for having given students of his sister's poetry

so many additional lovely examples of it. In these

* New Poems ' there are not many failures, but even if

these were far more numerous than they are, the

failures of a great poet, besides their biographical value,

are deeply instructive to students of poetry, and useful

as warnings to those who seek to write it

* New Poems ; hitherto unpublished or uncollected,'

has opposite to the title-page a portrait of Christina

from a pencil drawing by Dante Gabriel, probably a

preliminary study for * Ecce Ancilla Domini.' On the

title-page itself are the lines

I rated to the full amount
Must render mine account

and the book is dedicated to

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE
a generous eulogist of

Christina Rossetti

who hailed his genius and prized himself

the greatest of living british poets

my old and constant friend

i dedicate this book

W. M. R.

234 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Her brother contributes a characteristic and inter-
esting Preface of seven pages. After calling atten-
tion to the * strong outburst of eulogy ' of his sister
which followed her death, he goes on to state the
principles upon which he has arranged the poems he
has given to the world. He does not attempt any
detailed criticism of the poetic work he lays before the
public, but proceeds to give some valuable particulars
about his sister's habits as a poet and writer — particulars
already alluded to. His explanation of the reasons why
his sister did not herself print many of the verses may
be quoted in his own words :

* It may be asked why did she not publish these
verses herself? As to most of the items I see no
special reason, unless it be this — that, in point of sub-
ject or sentiment, they often resemble, more or less, some
of those examples which she did print ; and she may
have thought that the public, while willing to have one
such specimen, would be quite contented to lack a
second.'

Aided by his sister's notebooks mentioned before, in
which, with the exception of one or two casual omissions,
all the poems are dated, he has been able to place the
date after each poem. And, in the case of these omis-
sions, he has himself supplied probable dates. The
volume under consideration is divided into various sec-*
tions with the respective titles of * General,' * Devotional,*
and * Italian Poems,' followed by * Juvenilia.* The first
section contains one hundred and eighty, the second
seventy-nine, the third thirty-four, and the fourth
seventy-one pages. The 'Italian Poems' comprise
verses in that language by Christina ; while * Juvenilia '
comprehends most, but not all, of the poems printed in
the * Verses ' of 1847 as well as numerous other youthful

\

GENERAL POEMS 'REPINING* 235

efforts. The editor's valuable notes, spoken of before,
many of them of some length, occupy twenty-one pages
and conclude the book.

* General Poems ' opens with a sonnet entitled * The
whole head is sick and the whole heart faint,' the date
of which shows that it was written after the author had
completed her seventeenth year. It is noticeable on
account of its intrinsic merits, and because of its early
anticipation of the author's mature style. The poet in
the last four lines is depicting those who are experi*
encing a well-known phase of feeling :

For them there is no glory in the sky,
No sweetness in the breezes' murmuring :

They say, * The peace of heaven is placed too high,
And this earth changeth and is perishing.'

' Repining,' contributed by Christina to * The Germ,'
is here reprinted for the first time. In view of her
brother's comprehensive note on the subject it will be
needless for me to dwell at length on the poem. In the
main one must agree with the strictures he passes upon
it, though it is redeemed by passages like this :

Death — death — oh let us fly from death !
Where'er we go it followeth ;
All these are dead ; and we alone
Remain to weep for what is gone.
What is this thing ? thus hurriedly
To pass into eternity ;
To leave the earth so full of mirth ;
To lose the profit of our birth ;
To die and be no more ; to cease,
Having numbness that is not peace.
Let us go hence ; and, even if thus
Death everywhere must go with us,
Let us not see the change, but see
Those who have been or still shall be.

236 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Lady Montrevor/ relating to the character of that
name in Maturin's * Wild Irish Boy/ mentioned on another
occasion, is a good example of her early work. The
series of sonnets, twelve in number, composed at seven-
teen to bouts-rim^s supplied by her brother William, show
great metrical skill and command over language in one so
young — when we bear in mind the rapidity with which
they were composed — Sonnet IX. was written in five
minutes. But the editor would have acted more wisely
had he omitted Sonnet VII. Such phrases as ' It's too
wet for that ' and * Fire not allowable ' are hardly per-
missible in verse of this kind, even although that verse
was written by Christina Rossetti. One of the most
beautiful of these sonnets is Xh, instinct with true
inspiration. There is vision in the lines : —

I fancy the good fairies dressed in white,

Glancing like moonbeams through the shadows black.

The humorous 'Vanity Fair,' numbered Xc, was
much admired by Coventry Patmore at the time it was
written. Mr. W. M. Rossetti properly calls attention to
the power of his sister in utilising the same rhymes in Xa,
Xb, and Xc for totally different trains of thought * On
Keats,' the sonnet which immediately follows the sonnets
above named, is not in bouts-rimis,

'Three Nuns,* a poem in three divisions, is a passionate
outburst of ascetic fervour. Presumably the utterance
of three dying nuns, it is worthy of the writer who after-
wards wrote * The Convent Threshold.' ' The End of
the First Part ' is vivid and striking ; though dated as
early as April, 1849, it is remarkable as being a religious
poem almost in her later manner. This is especially
seen in the closing stanzas, the last of which is as
follows :

GENERAL POEMS — 'ANNIE,* ' SONG ' 237

There other garden-beds shall lie around,

Full of sweet-briar and incense-bearing thyme :

There I will sit, and listen for the sound
Of the last lingering chime.

The song beginning

We buried her among the flowers,

* Annie/ and the * Song/ the opening lines of which are —

It is not for her even brow

And shining yellow hair,
But it is for her tender eyes

I think my love so fair : —

are all exquisite love lyrics, and not the least quality of
their charm is their utter simplicity. But perhaps the
poet reaches her highest note in the perfect stanza
which closes the third of the lyrics just named :

So in my dreams I never hear

Her song, although she sings
As if a choir of spirits swept

From earth with throbbing wings :
I only hear the simple voice
Whose love makes many hearts rejoice.

The long poem, * To what Purpose is this Waste ? ' is
not particularly noteworthy, except as containing the line

A silent praise as pain is silent prayer,

a line so original that I doubt not it will take its place
among familiar quotations ; nor will her admirers ever
cease to remember the sonnet called * A Pause,' which,
for passionate though subdued beauty, must be placed
in the first rank among her masterpieces. * Cor Mio/
a sonnet, is conspicuously interesting, for it shows that
sometimes Christina made very considerable alterations
in her work — the poem having already appeared, with a

238 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

much changed octave, as Sonnet 18 of ' Later Life* in
her * Pageant * volume. ' How one chose ' and ' Seeking
Rest' are tender and touching poems, while the two
sonnets entitled 'Two Thoughts of Death* are very
sombre, and the excessive, even repulsive, realism of the
first, is extenuated, if not pardoned, when we see that it
is intentionally heightened, to give the effect of contrast
to the second sonnet. 'Three Moments* is likewise
a strong, almost dramatic, poem. Both * A Dii^e * and
Summer is ended' are admirable. The third stanza
of the last-named aptly shows Christina Rossetti's con-
ception of death —

Weep not for me when I am gone,
Dear tender one, but hope and smile :
Or, if you cannot choose but weep,

A little while weep on,

Only a little while.

Throughout the present work Christina Rossetti has
been regarded as an English poet, and I do not purpose
therefore to give here any detailed commentary on the
Italian poems in her posthumous book. These compo*
sitions, however, are not in my judgment unworthy
of their author. I may perhaps be allowed to quote
respecting them the opinion of a far more competent
critic than myself — a critic who, moreover, even in this
case, would, I think, be impartial. Concerning them the
editor has written :

' I consider that her Italian verses are, from a poetical
point of view, every bit as good as her English verses,
while the exquisite limpidity of the Italian language adds
something to the flow of their music. There are likely
to be some inaccuracies and blemishes of diction, but
perhaps only a native eye would detect these — mine
barely does.*

■aw>

GENERAL POEMS — * NINNA-NANNA ' 239

Appended to the Italian poems are fourteen pages of

* Ninna-Nanna/ a name originally given by Christina
Rossetti's cousin, Signor Teodorico Pietrocola-Rossetti,
to some translations he had made into Italian from her

* Sing-Song.* Her brother has applied the term * Ninna-
Nanna' here to translations or paraphrases made by
herself about 1879 of certain of the poems in 'Sing-
Song ' already published.

F

I

/ ;

240 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

CHAPTER VII

DEVOTIONAL POEMS

rom * Annus Domini ' — • Called to be Saints ' — • Time Flics * — * The Face
of the Deep'— < Goblin Market and other Poems'— < The Prince's
Progress and other Poems ' — * A Pageant and other Poems ' — * Verses *
(1893} — 'New Poems' — List of poems, mainly devotional, included
neither in her general ' Poems,' nor in her religious < Verses ' (1893).

Many of Christina Rossetti's devotional Poems— some
of them are roundels — are very short, and are con-
cerned with religious themes which are almost trite.
In nothing is her undoubted power so much shown as in
the fact that so few of them are commonplace. Had she
not had genius they might have sunk to the level of
much religious verse — respectable in purpose, excellent
in execution, nothing more.

Christina Rossetti often achieves fine effects by a
skilful use of internal rhymes, and also by a no less
adroit handling of the same phrase turned in a diverse
manner.

It is difficult for a commentator to choose an order
in classification of poems so similar in style and in
aim. The method pursued shall be to mention
the opening lyrics in her prose volumes; then the
religious verses in 'Goblin Market and other Poems,'
* The Prince's Progress and other Poems,* and * A Pageant
and other Poems,* in the order of those three volumes ;
and subsequently to discuss the religious poems which she

^WHIUWjii

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — FROM 'ANNUS DOMINI* 24I

included first in the original edition of her collected
poems — that published in 1875; Afterwards shall follow
an analysis of her 'Verses* (1893), together with a
list of her metrical compositions that appear in her
devotional prose works, but not in * Verses ' (1893), with
some remarks on these compositions ; and finally the
devotional section of * New Poems ' shall be dealt with.

* Annus Domini,' her first volume of devotional prose,
opens with a devotional lyric which has no title, and of
which the first stanzB, may be given :

Alas my Lord,
How should I wrestle all the livelong night
With thee my God, my Strength and my Delight ?

A copy of the volume now in my possession belonged
to Christina herself. It was given to her on her birth-
day, December 5, 1880, by her aunt. Miss Eliza Polidori,
and remained with her until her death.

Between stanzas six and seven in this copy is written
the following interpolated stanza in Christina Rossetti's
own handwriting :

Gulped by the fish,
As by the pit, lost Jonah made his moan ;
And Thou forgavest, waiting to atone.

A facsimile is given at p. 242. Her brother Dante
Gabriel much admired this poem. Unlike in motive or
in substance to George Herbert's * Affliction,' it is yet
somewhat akin to it in pensive thought.

Her next devotional work, * Seek and Find,* contains
no verse.

* Called to be Saints,' the ensuing volume, has a lyric
without title appended to a brief devotional meditation
called ' The Key to my Book.' Here are the first four
stanzas :

R

242

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

This near-at-hand land breeds pain by measure
That far-away land overflows with treasure
Of heaped-up good pleasure.

Our land that we see is befouled by evil :
The land that we see not makes mirth and revel.
Far from death and devil.

Yet Jacob did
So hold Thee by the clenched hand of

prayer
That he prevailed, and Thou didst bless

him there.

Elias prayed,
And sealed the founts of Heaven ; he

prayed again
And lo, Thy Blessing fell in showers of

ram.

All Nineveh
Fasting and girt in sackcloth raised

aery,
Which moved Thee ere the day of grace

went by.

Thy Church prayed on
And on for blessed Peter in his strait,
Till -opened of its own accord the gate.

*

[7ACSIMILE OK P. X OF A COPV OF * ANNUS DOMTNI ' SHOWING
AN INSERTED StANZA IN MANUSCRIPT.]

This land hath for music sobbing and sighing :
That land hath soft speech and sweet soft replying
Of all loves undying.

This land hath for pastime errors and follies :
That land hath unending, unflagging solace
Of fuU-chanted * Holies.*

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — * PASSING AWAY ' 243

Some objection may possibly be felt to the somewhat
monotonous metrical effect of a poem in a stanza of
three consecutive double rhymes. Conceivably the
measure may have been suggested by George Herbert's
' Sepulchre ' beginning

O blessed bodie ! Whither art thou thrown ?
No lodging for thee, but a cold hard stone ?
So many hearts on earth, and yet not one

Receive thee ? '

There, however, the consecutive rhymes are single not
double.

* Letter and Spirit,* the next in chronological order

of her devotional works, contains no verse, so we pass

to * Time Flies * where, although there is much verse

there is no opening general lyric. * The Face of the

Deep,' her latest and longest, and, as many think, her

finest prose work, contains a notable lyric couched

in a most characteristic manner. The first stanza is

subjoined :

O, ye who love to-day.

Turn away

From Patience with her silvery ray :

For Patience shows a twilight face :

Like a half-lighted moon

When daylight dies apace.

* Goblin Market and other Poems ' contains at least
five religious poems of the highest rank, * The Three
Enemies,* * Passing Away,' * Advent,' * Symbols,' and
* Up-hill ' — for the last named is properly a religious poem
though not classed by its author as such. All are
masterpieces in somewhat varying ways. Of * Passing
Away,' which appeared in a section entitled ' Old and
New Year Ditties,' some lines may be quoted :

R 2

244 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Passing away, saith my Soul, passing away .

With its burden of fear and hope, of labour and play ;

Hearken what the past doth witness and say :

Rust in thy gold, a moth is in thine array,

A canker is in thy bud, thy leaf must decay.

At midnight, at cockcrow, at morning, one certain day

I.O, the Bridegroom shall come and shall not delay :

Watch thou and pray.

Then I answered : Yea.

Passing away, saith my God, passing away :

Winter passeth after the long delay :

New grapes on the vine, new figs on the tender spray,

Turtle calleth turtle in Heaven's May.

Though I tarry wait for Me, trust Me, watch and pray.

Arise, come away, night is past, and lo, it is day.

Mr.' Swinburne (my authority for the statement is her
brother Dante Gabriel) regards ' Advent ' as * perhaps
the noblest of all her poems.* Its metre, the familiar
iambic alternate eight and six feet set in stanzas of eight
lines, is a metre seldom adopted by its author. In
inferior hands this measure grows wearisome, but in the
hands of a great poet it is very noble. 'Symbols/
written on January 7, 1849, is inserted in an earlier form
in her prose story * Maude,' where the third line of the
second stanza and the second line of the third stanza
appear respectively as

Wherein three little eggs were laid,

and

That I had tended with such care ;

while in * Goblin Market and other Poems * the same
lines are given as

Wherein three speckled eggs were laid,

and

That I had tended so with care

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — * THE LOWEST PLACE* 245

' — a considerable improvement. The sonnets * Dead
before Death ' and * The World ' require no especial
mention. The less known * Amen * of which the opening

stanza is :

It is over. AVTiat is over ?
Nay, how much is over truly ! —

Harvest days we toiled to sow for ;
Now the sheaves are gathered newly,
Now the wheat is garnered duly,

deserves a brief allusion on account of some of its

metrical effects. The measure is regular trochaic in lines

of four feet with alternate rhymes, a fifth line of equal

length with the others, and rhyming with the second and

fourth, being added, presumably, for the sake of variety.

Let us now turn to the devotional section of * The

Prince's Progress and other Poems.' Here we may observe

that if ' The Lowest Place ' has not the gorgeousness of

diction nor the brilliance of poetic imagery we find in

* Advent ' and others of her poems of this class, it has

qualities which in Christina Rossetti are more unusual

than mere poetic attributes. In it there is, besides, a

certain homeliness and directness of utterance to which

we are unaccustomed. As these characteristics are

combined with poetic fire, the piece becomes specially

noteworthy. Many of Christina Rossetti's devotional

poems, fine as they are as devotional verse, could only

be used as such in reading. * The Lowest Place,' on the

other hand, has, if I am not mistaken, been placed in not

a few hymnals. * If only ' has distinct beauty. In such

a phrase as

If I might only love my God and die !
But now He bids me love Him and live on,

there is one of those individual touches sometimes

246 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

mistakenly considered signs of her morbidity — an error
arising from want of apprehension of Christina Rossetti's
point of view.

There is much noble and inspiring devotional verse
in * A Pageant, and other Poems/ the only one of her
separate poetic volumes which contains no section termed
* Devotional Poems.* * For Thine own Sake, O Lord,'
gives a cheering view of human aspirations and of Divine
goodness :

Wearied of sinning, wearied of repentance,

Wearied of self, I turn, my God, to thee ;
To thee, my Judge, on Whose all-righteous sentence

Hangs mine eternity :
I turn to Thee, I plead Thyself with Thee,—

Be pitiful to me.

• •.*•• ft

I plead Thyself with Thee Who art my Maker,
R^ard Thy handiwork that cries to Thee ;

I plead Thyself with Thee Wlio wast partaker
Of mine infirmity.

Love made Thee what Thou art, the love of me, —
I plead Thyself with Thee.

The sonnet aptly called * Why ' expresses with
succinct beauty an inquiry made at some time by each
devout soul :

Lord, if I love Thee and Thou lovest me.
Why need I any more these toilsome days :
Why should I not run singing up Thy ways

Straight into heaven, to rest myself with Thee ?

This may be compared with Crashaw's fine lyric (Dr.
Grosart's edition of this poet in ' The Fuller Worthies*
Library ' is quoted from) :

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — * PARADISE ' 247

A SONG OF DIVINE LOVE

Lord, When the sense of Thy sweet grace
Sends up my soul to seek Thy face,
Thy blessed eyes breed such desire,
I dy in Loue's delicious fire.

Q Loue ! I am thy Sacrifice ?
Be still triumphant, blessed eyes !
Still shine on me, fair suns ! that I
Still may behold, though still I dy.

And, in Christina Rossetti's poem, no less perfect is the
Saviour's answer. * A Pageant and other Poems * is fitly
closed by the tender lyric * Love is strong as Death.'

Certain noteworthy religious poems were added by
Christina Rossetti to the first edition of her collected
poems issued in 1875. Chief among these is * Paradise '
— a masterpiece among the limited class of poems in
English literature which are descriptive as well as
devotional. Her picture of heaven is as vivid as though
of some place actually seen with bodily eyes, and yet not
a phrase, not a word, jars because of excessive realism.

* They desire a better country ' has an individual though
not an unpleasing moumfulness. * When my Heart
is vexed I will complain,' a dialogue between the soul
and its Redeemer, is remarkable for motive and for
metrical qualities ; and the skill with which the dialogue
form IS handled must not be overlooked.

* Verses ' (1893) consisted entirely of religious poetry.
Many of these * verses ' were the work of her later years,
and were reprinted, as mentioned before, from * Called
to be Saints,' * Time Flies,' and * The Face of the Deep.'
She divided the pieces into eight sections, termed respec-
tively ' Out of the Deep have I called unto Thcc, O Lord,'

* Christ our All in All,' * Some Feasts and Fasts,' * Gifts

248 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

and Graces/ * The World. Self Destruction/ * Divers
Worlds. Time and Eternity/ * New Jerusalem and its
Citizens/ and * Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims/ the
poems being classified according to subject In analysing
this book her own order shall be adhered to.

The first section, * Out of the Deep have I called unto
Thee, O Lord/ extends to nine pages and contains
seventeen sonnets. In placing them in the foreground
of her volume she displayed considerable critical discern-
ment as they splendidly show the devout side of her
genius. The opening sonnet begins thus :

Alone Lord God, in Whom our trust and peace,
Our love and our desire, glow bright with hope ;
Lift us above this transitory scope

Of earth, these pleasures that begin and cease.

This moon which wanes, these seasons which decrease :
We turn to Thee ; as on an eastem slope
Wheat feels the dawn beneath night's lingering cope,

Bending and stretching sunward ere it sees.

All these sonnets have an especial beauty, but per-
haps the most beautiful of all is that with the heading

Where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt
beginning

Nerve us with patience, Lord, to toil or rest,

or the opening lines of the second of the two sonnets
with the inscription * As the Sparks fly upwards ' :

Lord, make us all love all : that, when we meet
Even myriads of earth's myriads at Thy Bar,
We may be glad as all true lovers are

Who having parted count reunion sweet

The magnificent sonnet

Weigh all my faults and follies righteously

--- *-^ ^ "Miir

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — * HERSELF A ROSE * 249

ought also to be named. The succeeding section * Christ
our All in All ' extends to twenty-nine pages and con-
tains a dialogue poem beginning

O Lord when Thou didst call me, didst Thou know

which is a considerable achievement, for it is exceedingly
difficult to. treat poetically a subject of saintly aspiration,
in such a form. The eight lines which close the page
with the general title of ' King of Kings and Lord of
Lords/ are concise and lovely. The opening line

Thy Name, O Christ, as incense streaming forth

is an instance of her infrequent revision, and is a vast
improvement on

Thy Name, O Christ, as ointment is poured forth

as it stood when it first appeared in * The Face of the
Deep.*

The section * Some Feasts and Fasts ' extends to
forty-eight pages, and contains the lyric * Herself a Rose '
that was inserted originally in ' Called to be Saints.' It
is full of the exquisite symbolism which makes Christina
Rossetti a great poet In the same section she has
appropriated a fine sonnet to the Vigil of St. Bartholomew,
a sonnet which occurs originally in * The Face of the
Deep ' in the midst of her commentary on the words

' And he saith unto me. Write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true
sayings of God/

It is additionally interesting because introduced by
some remarks on symbolism — remarks very instructive
as coming from her.

* Symbolism affords a fascinating study : wholesome

250 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

SO long as it amounts to aspiration and research ;
unwholesome when it degenerates into a pastime. As
literal shadows tend to soothe, lull, abate keenness of
vision ; so perhaps symbols may have a tendency to
engross, satisfy, arrest incautious ^ouls unwatchful and
unprayerful lest they enter into temptation/

Under the heading of* All Saints : Martyrs ' we have
an otherwise fine sonnet which is remarkable, as con-
taining the line

All luminous and lovely in their gore.

* Gore ' in serious poetry is now almost inadmissible,
and its employment here, even by Christina Rossetti, will
not reconcile other poets to its use.

The section entitled * Gifts and Graces * extends to
eighteen pages, and possesses a singularly beautiful
poem with the heading * When I was in trouble I called
upon the Lord ' that recalls to some extent, though
without any imitation, Donne's * Hymn to the Father.*
Christina Rossetti's poem is beautiful not only for the
ideas expressed but for delicacy of rhythm. Quotation
may be made of the first and fourth stanzas.

A burdened heart that bleeds and bears

And hopes and waits in pain,
And faints beneath its fears and cares.

Yet hopes again :
• «•••#

Or if Thou wilt not yet relieve,

Be not extreme to sift :
Accept a faltering will to give,

Itself Thy gift.

The section called * The World. Self Destruction '
extends to six pages, and is succeeded by a section,
entitled * Divers Worlds. Time and Eternity,' that
reaches to nineteen pages. Under the sub-title of

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — 'TIME PASSES AWAY* 25 1

* Awake, thou that sleepest ' it contains a poem begin-
ning :

The night is far spent, the day is at hand :

The closing stanza is as follows :

Far, far away lies the beautiful land :
Mount on wide wings of exceeding desire,

Mount, look not back, mount to life and to light,
Mount by the gleam of your lamps all on fire
Up from the dead men and up from the night.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

The lyric originally formed part of its author's
exposition of the text, * The night is far spent, the
day is at hand ' in * The Face of the Deep.* The cha-
racteristic * Time passes away ' is also included in
this section. It may be well to point out here that in
this, as well as in some others of her poems in French
verse-forms, written in her later years, she uses succeeding
rhymes (in * Time passes away ' the rhymes in question
are * pain * and * bay ') which are open to the objection of
containing similar vowel sounds. The poem beginning

Time lengthening, in the lengthening seemeth long :

the second of the two poems with the sub-title, * The

earth shall tremble at the look of Him,' is solemn in

subject, and has a correspondingly solemn metre whose

rhythm gives it majesty and force. How expressive are

the lines

Time lengthening, in the lengthening seemeth long

and

Eternity still rolling forth its car,

Eternity still here and still to come.

The noble eight-line poem beginning
Heaven's chimes are slow, but sure to strike at last

252 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

is placed as the second poem under the sub-title of
* All Flesh is Grass/ in this section. In Christina
Rossetti's 'New Poems' appear ten stanzas to which
the editor has given the title ' Restive.' The third
stanza.

These chimes are slow, but surely strike at last :
This sand is slow, but surely droppeth through :

And much there is to suffer, much to do,
Before the time be past,

will be seen to be an early version of

Heaven's chimes are slow, but sure to strike at last :
Earth's sands are slow, but surely dropping thro' :
And much we have to suffer, much to do,
Before the time be past

It is probable that she wrote the fine concluding
stanza :

Chimes that keep time are neither slow nor fast :
Not many are the numbered sands nor few :

A time to suffer, and a time to do,
And then the time is past,

when composing * Time Flies.' This shows that even
Christina Rossetti, who is supposed to have revised so
little, sometimes acted like the poets of elaboration, a
.class to whom she cannot be said to belong, and built
up a fine poem from some comparatively unimportant
lines having originally an altogether different connection.
The seventh of the sections into which * Verses ' of
1893 is divided, is entitled 'New Jerusalem and its
Citizens.' From ' The Face of the Deep,' comes the
first of the three poems with the sub-title * She shall
be brought unto the King.' Its opening line, * The
King's daughter is all glorious within,' is noticeable

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — * SONGS FOR STRANGERS' 253

metrically, because the first foot must be made * The
King's dau ' to scan — a somewhat daring licence.
In the same section a sonnet beginning :

Dear Angels and dear disembodied Saints
Unseen around us, worshipping in rest,

May wonder that man's heart so often faints
And his steps lag along the heavenly quest,

is inserted in the course of her commentary on the words,

' And after these things I saw four angels standing
on the four corners of the earth, holding the four
winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on
the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.'

(*The Face of the Deep,' Chap. VII.). This sonnet has
a vivid, almost an autobiographical touch.

Not infrequently in many of her devotional poems,
and perhaps noticeably in this sonnet, wc are reminded
of the quaintness and intensity of Quarles, though in
Christina Rossetti we rarely perceive the realism border-
ing on the ludicrous apparent in some of his * Emblems.'
Elsewhere in her writings, (notably in passages of * Time
Flies,' and also in the lyric in this book * Lord whom-
soever Thou shalt send ' under the title of ' Are they not
all Ministering Spirits,' and likewise in * The Face of the
Deep,') she expresses her views about guardian angels.

In the last section of this book, headed ' Songs for
Strangers and Pilgrims,' under the title * Whither the
tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord,' we have a
poem of ten lines. The first stanza begins :

Where never tempest heaveth,
Nor sorrow grieveth,

and the second stanza :

Where never shame bewaileth,
Nor serpent traileth.

254 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

The fifth line of the first stanza is ' Sleep ' and the fifth
line of the second stanza is ' Reap/ Another poem in
* Verses/ cast in the antique mould, is one of twelve lines,
originally in * The Face of the Deep/ and beginning :

Day and night the Accuser makes no pause,

in which the same rhyme is continued throughout. In
these poems, and others of her religious verses, the
influence of Donne and Wither would seem to be trace-
able, different as were these seventeenth century poets in
some aspects of poetic art.

Under date of April 13, in 'Time Flies,' there is a
sweet little nature lyric of eight lines beginning :

A cold wind stirs the blackthorn

To burgeon and to blow,
Besprinkling half-green hedges

With vegetable snow.

It is placed in the section with the sub-title of * Endure
Hardness/ the last line of the stanza being :

With flakes and sprays of snow,

a marked improvement on

With vegetable snow,

a phrase not altogether happy.

In the same section are the fine verses beginning :

Our life is long. Not so, wise Angels say

which may be compared with Horatius Bonar's lines
on the same subject beginning :

He liveth long who liveth well :
All other life is short and vain.

' Home by different ways ' may be alluded to, and the

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — *OTHER EYES. THAN OURS' 255

delicately wrought poem, worthy of George Herbert,
* Praying always.' The latter is in three stanzas, of
which the first is given below :

PRAYING ALWAYS.

After midnight, in the dark

The clock strikes one.

New day has begun.
Look up and hark !
With singing heart forestall the carolling lark.'

In the poem of considerable length, * To what purpose
is this Waste,' dated January 22, 1853, and first published
in * New Poems,* occur the lines :

And other eyes than ours

Were made to look on flowers.
Eyes of small birds and insects small :

The deep sun-blushing rose

Round which the prickles close
Opens her bosom to them all.

The tiniest living thing

That soars on feathered wing,
Or crawls among the long grass out of sight,

Has just as good a right
To its appointed portion of delight

As any King.

This IS the earlier form of the charming stanza
so full of sympathy with animals, which appears in
' Time Flies,' and begins^:

Innocent eyes not ours,
Are made to look on flowers,
Eyes of small birds and insects small.

It will be readily seen from the above that Christina
Rossetti's alterations, comparatively infrequent though
they were, were sometimes important, and that she

J

256 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

always achieved a higher poetic excellence in her
finished poem than in her first draft.
The brief lyric

Before the beginning Thou hast foreknown the end,

which originally appeared in * The Face of the Deep '
as part of her commentary on the text Rev. xix. 18,

' That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh
of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the
flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the
flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and
great,*

is a striking instance of a certain morbidity she shows

again and again in dwelling on the concomitants of death,

or perhaps it might be more just to say in a too frequent

dwelling on the idea of death. A similar remark can

be made with regard to the otherwise lovely lyric

beginning

Young girls wear flowers,

though the fancy she there works out, that perchance
angels resort to grave-yards, is in itself a beautiful
one.

Some metrical qualities of the poems included in
' Verses' (1893) may be indicated at this point. There
arc, for example, several instances of a very successful
use of internal rhymes. Here is one :

He speaks with Dove-voice of exceeding love,
And she with love-voice of an answering Dove.

And again :

Trembling before Thee we fall down to adore Thee,
Shamefaced and trembling we lift our eyes to Thee :

O First and with the last ! annul our ruined past,
Rebuild us to Thy glory, set us free
From sin and from sorrow to fall down and worship Thee.

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — ' WE KNOW NOT A VOICE ' 257

And once more in the solemn lyric * Life that was
born to-day/ the first stanza of which may serve for pur-
poses of illustration, the same feature is discernible :

Life that was born to-day
Must make no stay,

But tend to end
As blossom-bloom of May.
O Lord, confirm my root,
Train up my shoot,

To live and give
Harvest of wholesome fruit.

The two sonnets under the sub-title of * Heaviness
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning'
are notable specimens of her work, despite these lines in
the first sonnet that border too closely on the ridiculous :

Thus I sat mourning like a mournful owl.
And like a doleful dragon made ado.

The analysis of a noble volume — the greatest contri-
bution to religious verse of our century — must not close
without mentioning the perfect lyric beginning :

We know not a voice of that river,

printed previously in * The Face of the Deep ' after her
commentary on the passage in the twenty-second
chapter of Revelation,

'And he showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crjrstal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and of the Lamb,'

nor must it conclude without mentioning the heartfelt
lines beginning

As froth on the face of the deep

whose beautiful rhythm suggests the metre of Mr.
Swinburne's memorable * Dedication ' to the first series of

s

258 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

his * Poems and Ballads.' Finally, allusion must be
made to Christina Rossetti's characteristic conception of
the goodness of God, embodied in the opening lines
that follow her remarkable sonnet on the passage :

' And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven
angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God,
Who liveth for ever and ever.'

Seven vials hold Thy wrath : but what can hold

Thy mercy save Thine own Infinitude

Boundlessly overflowing with all good,
All lovingkindness, all delights untold ?
Thy love, of each created love the mould ;

Thyself, of all the empty plenitude.

The following is a list of the poems which appeared
in * Time Flies ' and in * The Face of the Deep,' but were
not included by Christina Rossetti either in her col-
lected 'Poems' of 1890 or in her 'Verses' of 1893.
These poems are chiefly devotional. Ta^o of them
however which begin respectively * A handy Mole who
plied no shovel ' and ' Contemptuous of his home
beyond,' (descriptive of the death of a frog), show her
love for animals, and have flashes of gentle humour.
The poems having no titles, the opening line is gfiven
in each case.

'TIME FLIES'

' Love is all happiness, love is all beauty ' — p. 34.

* A handy Mole who plied no shovel' — p. 40,

* A Rose which spied one swallow ' — p. 85.
'Contemptuous of his home beyond' — p. 129.

'THE FACE OF THE'DEEP'

* What will it be, O my soul, what will it be ? ' — p. 35.
' Lord, Thou art fullness ; I am emptiness ' — ^p. 36.

* O Lord, I cannot plead my love of Thee ' — p. 84.

DEVOTIONAL POEMS — *A CHRISTMAS CAROL 259

* Lord, comest Thou to me ? ' — p. 224.

* Love us unto the end, and prepare us ' — p. 248.

* Lord, grant us eyes to see ' — p. 285.

' I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow ' —
p. 417.

* Passing away the bliss ' — p. 448.

' As one red rose in a garden when all other roses are white ' —

p. 450-

* Love builds a nest on earth and waits for rest ' — p. 513.

* Jesus alone : — if thus it were to me ' — p. 549.

Though not markedly different in tone or in senti-
ment from the devotional poems which Christina
Rossetti published in her lifetime, the devotional poems
contained in the * New Poems ' are a worthy comple-
ment to them. As an instance of her succinct work,
when her poetic inspiration reached its most exalted
point, the lovely eight-line lyric entitled ' A Christmas
Carol ' may be mentioned. It begins :

AVhoso hears a chiming for Christmas at the nighest
Hears a sound like Angels chanting in their glee,

Hears a sound like palm-boughs waving in the highest,
Hears a sound like ripple of a crystal sea.

When a poet chooses a most hackneyed subject, and
employs a rhyme-word like * glee,' to do the work of
* rapture ' or some such word, and then achieves notable
success, we may take it as a sure sign of poetic inspira-
tion. Poetic achievement is often the result of attention
to small details, often the vanquishing of small difficul-
ties — difficulties, however, which are none the less haras-
sing because they are small.

Among other excellent religious verses in these' New
Poems' are *Yea I have a goodly Heritage,' and *I

know you not,* of which the last stanza is as follows :

s 2

260 CHRISTINA UOSSETTI

But Who is this that shuts the door,
And saith — I know you not— to them ?
I see the wounded hands and side,

The brow thorn-tortured long ago :
Yea, This who grieved and bled and died,
This same is He who must condemn ;
He called, but they refused to know ;
So now He hears their cr)* no more.

Very pathetically beautiful also is one of her early
sonnets, dated December i8, 1853, and beginning :

When I am sick and tired it is God's will :
Also God's will alone is sure and best : —
So in my weariness I find my rest,

And so in poverty I take my fill.

A further poem showing mastery over dialogue, a form
not easy to handle satisfactorily in the treatment of
spiritual subjects, is that under the somewhat infelici-
tous title of ' Conference between Christ, the Saints, and
the Soul.' »

' When the present work was about to be printed off, and when, un-
fortunately, it was too late to make further alterations in the text, or to
adopt his suggestion made in the following communication respecting * G>n-
ference between Christ, the Saints, and the Soul,' Mr. W. M. Rossetti
wrote to me :

' It b true that, thro' failing to trace the poem by its title, I put it into the
New Poems : but that was a mistake of mine, for the poem was published
by Christina [who had e-named it ** I will lift up mine eyes to the Hills "]
in her Poems of 1875 <^°d 1 891. If you make any observation on the poem,
it would seem more proper that your observation should come among
your remarks on poems published by Christina herself, and not among
your remarks upon tae New Poems which were published by me after her
dcalh.'

26l

CHAPTER VIII

CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND PROSE STORIES

• Sing-Song ' — * Speaking Likenesses ' — * Commonplace, and other Short

Stories* — ' Maude.'

In this chapter I shall deal first with Christina Ros-
setti's books for children, subsequently discussing ' Com-
monplace, and other Short Stories.' And, it may be, that
in doing so I shall call attention to certain aspects of her
genius in its lighter moods — aspects and moods over-
looked too frequently.

One of the strongest ties between her and Mr.
Swinburne was their love of children. And Mr. Swin-
burne's fine child-poem * Olive,' (on a little niece,
nine years old, of his friend Mr. Watts-Dunton) — a
child-poem full of beautiful description — was an especial
favourite of hers.

To one, who, like myself, knew Christina Rossetti
in her solitude, a solitude that must sometimes have
been loneliness, it is curious and interesting, and from
some points of view even a little pathetic, to think of
the popularity of her children's books, such, for instance,
as * Sing-Song,' in numberless nurseries throughout the
world, while its author saw so little of children. For
when I knew Christina Rossetti her liking for children
was not seldom made evident by word or by look.

Anne Gilchrist has prettily said concerning * Sing-

262 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Song/ in a letter to Mr. W. M. Rossetti, that its brief
/ lyrics are ' as sweet and spontaneous as a robin's song :
. • . melody of the right kind indeed for the little ones ;
who want it as much as they want air and sunshine, or
laughter and kisses.' And this praise is not ill-bestowed.
It is observable that both Christina Rossetti and Jean
Ingelow, two of the greatest poetesses of our age, have
excelled in writing for children. Jean Ingelow has given
us children's stories both in prose and in verse, such
as the * Stories told to a Child ' and the lovely poem

* Echo and the Ferry,' showing subtle knowledge of the
heart of a child, and marvellous power of depicting it In

* Sing-Song/ the volume now to be treated of, Christina
Rossetti has given terse and brief lyrical utterance to
the feelings and aspirations of children — utterance which
is as realistic in the higher sense as the best poems in
Robert Louis Stevenson's ' Garden of Verses,' while full
of a dramatic imagination that lifts them to a higher
level of insight and aspiration than is reached even by
that delightful writer in those delightful child-poems.
But * Sing-Song,' — though, of course, it has an affinity to
the work for children of Jean Ingelow and Robert
Louis Stevenson — has also its points of difference,
but this difference is precisely one of those which
are more easily felt than exactly defined in words. At
first sight the lyrics in * Sing-Song ' seem so simple as to
demand neither thought nor artistic workmanship on
the part of their author, and yet, spontaneous as they
seem, looked at more closely, they reveal considerable
thought, and not a little technical workmanship. Many
of the brief bird-like songs in this volume are perfectly
expressed, and it is by no means easy to attain perfect
expression within brief limits. To judge by the number

■

I*

children's books — 'sing-song* 263

of volumes written for children it would appear not
hard to write a children's book, and yet to me at least
it has always seemed that to write a book for children,
which would not only be loved by them, but would be
regarded in the well-nigh unanimous opinion of the
best judges among their elders as a classic in its own
department, must require both real and especial genius.
Such a volume is * Sing-Song/ Its lessons are not
enforced by dull didacticism, and even its teaching is
elevated into poetry.

' Sing-Song, a nursery rhyme book, with one hundred
and twenty illustrations by Arthur Hughes, engraved
by the brothers Dalziel,' was published in 1872, and
the dedication page is as follows :

Rhymes

Dedicated

Without pemiission

To

The Baby

Who

Suggested them.

This * baby ' was the son of Professor Arthur Cayley,
the celebrated Cambridge mathematician.

When illustrating ' Sing-Song ' Mr. Arthur Hughes
lived for some time at a cottage on Holmwood Common,
Surrey, and he has given me some interesting particulars
respecting his illustrations and the localities from which
they were drawn.

Opposite the title-page is a full-page design repre-
senting a baby in its peasant mother's lap who, seated
at the foot of an old oak tree, is knitting. At their side,
though unseen of any, except possibly the child, sits a
tiny rabbit with raised forepaws in attitude of mild

264 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

entreaty. At some little distance oflf are sheep at rest
In the foreground two lambs gaze upon the mother and
child, and so does a donkey's foal, standing on a little
bridge spanning a stream, from which its mother drinks.
On the banks of the stream are birds. Behind the
mother and child, and unseen by them, some cherubs
peep. This design, so lovely in its touching simplicity,
drawn from Holmwood Common, is perhaps uncon*
sciously a sort of allegory of innocent childhood attract-
ing to itself what is innocent, youthful, and harmless in
the lower creation. It may be questioned, however,
whether the introduction of the cherubs does not
detract from the harmony of the picture by recalling
the onlooker's mind from this idyllic country scene to
something essentially incompatible with it. The land-
scape here, be it remembered, is real, not a painter's
convention.

The old well illustrating the lines beginning

Kookoorookoo ! kookoorookoo !
Crows the cock before the mom ;

was sketched at Cookham Dene, near Maidenhead ; the
pretty old cottage window half thrown open to the
frosty air with the kindly little girl throwing out

A crumb for robin redbreast
On the cold days of the year,

from a cottage window at Holmwood Common ; the
delightful ingle nook descriptive of

There's snow on the fields,
And cold in the cottage,

from an old farm cottage at Holmwood ; and the dead
thrush lying beside the rush basket at head of the lines

children's books — 'sing-song' 265

Dead in the cold, a song-singing thrush,
Dead at the foot of a snowberry bush —

from a rush basket made by children at the same

place.

My baby kisses and is kissed,
For he's the very thing for kisses,

is a portrait of the wife and baby son of the artist. The
drawing associated with

If all were rain and never sun,
No bow could span the hill ;

represents a rainbow that spans an extensive country,
while behind the rainbow is a hill. This is also a
picture of Holmwood Common ; and the hill behind
the rainbow portrays Redlands Woods. Dante Gabriel
much admired this drawing, more especially the ' bent
old woman and the child,' in the foreground ' as illustra-
ting the effect of sorrows and troubles and their teaching
during the progress of life.* A sketch of a pigeon cote
on a farm off Holmwood Common is linked to one of
the most delightful little lyrics in the volume, ending

The summer days are short
Where southern nights are long :

Yet short the night when nightingales
Trill out their song.

The picture of a little girl doing a hem ; of the little

boy and the toy horse ; of another little girl teaching

another little boy arithmetic on a blackboard, and of a

little boy looking at a sun-dial, interpreting respectively

the lines :

A pocket handkerchief to hem —

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear !
How many stitches it will take
Before it*s done, I fear.

266 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Seldom < can't,'
Seldom *■ don't ' ;

I and I are two —
That's for me and you.

How many seconds in a minute ?
SLxty, and no more in it,

were drawn from the artist's youngest daughter ; his
youngest son ; his eldest daughter and }'oungest son ;
and from a sun-dial in an old garden at Maidstone.

To accompany the poem that follows is a spirited
drawing figuring donke^-s, pigs, and geese on Holmwood
Common, and the next sketch, representing a stile and
tree, m-as also executed in the same locality. The belfiy
at page 94 was sketched by the artist when sta>nng at
a house lent to him by a friend, near Caesar's Camp
on Wimbledon Common. The draiiinng at the head of
the lines beginning :

^\^lo has ever seen the wind ?

Neither I nor vou :
But when the leaves hang trembling.

The wind is passing thro*.

showing: a horse and pigs with a background of trees,
was sketched at Holmwood. In it the artist represents
the pigs as running from the wind. Does he mean to
suggest the Yorkshire saying that 'pigs can see t'
wind * ? The drawing nguring a molo was drawn from
a mole seen on Holmwood Commo:: by the artist ; that
of an old woman in a chair was sketched from a chair
in a cottage in the same neighbourhood ; and that
showing a sweet cott.ige window with the moon peeping
through was delineated from the actual window of the
artist's Holmwoovi lodging.

children's books — ' SING-SONG ' 267

One of the most fascinating of Christina's brief lyrics
in this volume is that beginning :

Boats sail on the rivers,

And ships sail on the seas ;
But clouds that sail across the sky

Are prettier far than these.

The delightful, characteristic landscape which accom-
panies it represents the outlook over the Thames on the
road to Rochester near a village called Stone, just before
coming to Greenhithe ; while the drawing that represents
a ship's deck illustrative of the song commencing :

I have a little husband

And he is gone to sea.
The winds that whistle round his ship

Fly home to me,

•

was appropriately made by the artist at the London
docks. The pretty picture of Willie and Margery in the
swing represents his youngest son and daughter.

Not the least graceful of Christina Rossetti's lyrics
says whimsically that the * bee ' * brings home honey ' ;

* the father * * money ' which * mother ' expends ; while

* baby ' * eats the honey.* The sketch at the head of
it represents * baby ' on * mother's ' lap being fed with
a spoon. In the background are the beehives, while
•father' looks on. Mr. Hughes informs me that this
sketch 'delighted Dante Gabriel Rossetti very much,'
and that * he spoke of the " silly happy sort of" ex-
pression of the man.'

Mr. Shields, who has a very high opinion of Mr.
Arthur Hughes both as a painter and as a book illustrator,
has pointed out to me in conversation the very fine
qualities and admirable symbolism of the design

268 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

associated with the quasi-humorous lines wherein little
Molly although

All the bells were ringing
And all the birds were singing,

sat down to cry just because she had broken her doll.
Molly is seated on the ground at the foot of a little tree
Her left hand holds the remains of her doll, its decapi-
tated head being in front of her, the back of her right
. hand is thrust into her right eye presumably to check
the tears ; from the boughs of the trees many birds, with
visibly open bills, seem, almost audibly, to sing, while at
the top of the picture is a scroll of bells. In the judg-
ment of Mr. Shields this same scroll of bells most success-
fully intensified the symbolism, and he added ' Such a
design as the bells would never have occurred to me, I
often quote the lines to people in small troubles.'

One does not usually think of Christina Rossetti as
humorous, yet a light, playful humour is often present in
* Sing-Song.' What playful fancy could be better con-
ceived and worked out than in the lines :

If a pig wore a wig
What could he say?

1

If his tail chanced to fail

Send him to the tailoress
I'd get one new ;

or than in the quaint enumeration beginning

A pin has a head, but has no hair ;

and concluding

And baby crows, without being a cock.

CHILDREN S BOOKS — 'SING-SONG* 269

Were space available much might be said about the
comical conceit respecting fishes and lizards, b^inning

When fishes set umbrellas up,

with its inimitable woodcut, and similar conceits con-
cerning mice, crows, and sprats !

Christina Rossetti dedicates to the ' garden-mouse '
(whom she designates as * poor little timid furry man * )
a tuneful lyric akin to Bums's fine ode to the same * Wee,
sleekit, cow'rin, timorous beastie.' Both poets were
equally fond of animals, and both in the poems just
named regard the creature whom they address with a
fondness akin to pity. The pretty representation of a
field-mouse at the head of Christina Rossetti's lyric
was drawn from a field-mouse found by Mr. Hughes on
Holmwood Common,

A little later on Christina Rossetti's love of nature
bursts forth, and she compares the condition of a linnet
in a * gilded cage * with the hard fate of a linnet at
liberty during severe weather, and asks the child to
answer which is best. The reply might be doubtful,
but she ends by saying :

But let the trees burst out in leaf

And nests be on the bough,
AVhich linnet is the luckier bird.

Oh who could doubt it now?

The lines commencing :

Hope is like a harebell trembling firom its birth,
Love is like a rose the joy of all the earth ;
Faith is like a lily lifted high and white.
Love is like a lovely rose the world's delight ;

might possibly be regarded as somewhat beyond a
child's comprehension. Christina Rossetti herself

270 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

evidently liked these lines much, for she wrote respec-
tively :

Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth,

and (as mentioned before in an allusion to her strong
religious convictions)

Faith is like a lily lifted high and white,

in copies of her general 'Poems' (1890) and of her
* Verses' (1893) now owned by me.

The only objection that can be urged against the
otherwise lovely lyrics beginning :

Fly away, fly away over the sea,
Sun-loving swallow, for summer is done
and

When a mounting skylark sings
In a sunlit summer morn,

is that their full significance lies beyond the understand-
ing of children. In a collected edition of her poetical
works these lyrics ought to be included. The beautiful
poem about stars and flowers whose final lines are :

Winged angels might fly down to us

To pluck the stars,
But we could only long for flowers

Beyond the cloudy bars —

has a wistful touch in it.

The volume next to be dealt with was originally
called * Nowhere,* but Dante Gabriel pointed out that a
' free-thinking book ' had been * called " Erewhon," which
is " Nowhere " inverted,' so it became * Speaking Like-
nesses.' Like * Sing-Song ' the volume is illustrated by
Mr. Arthur Hughes.

* Speaking Likenesses,' issued in 1874, ^^^ pi^*
sumably a series of stories told to some girls by their

children's books — 'SPEAKING LIKENESSES* 27 1

aunt to while away the hours of sewing, cannot be ranked
high among its author's books. It is not comparable
with the best work of the same kind by * Lewis Carroll *
and Jean Ingelow. Nevertheless it is not without some
good qualities. The following extract, which may be
called * Flora's Entrance into the House of her Dreams/
shows vivid fancy, and perhaps it is characteristic of
Christina Rossetti that here she introduces, with obvious
moral intent, the looking-glasses throughout the room.

Flora's Entrance into the House of Her

Dreams.

* The door opened into a large and lofty apartment,
very handsomely furnished. All the chairs were stuffed
arm-chairs, and moved their arms and shifted their
shoulders to accommodate sitters. All the sofas arranged
and rearranged their pillows as convenience dictated.
Footstools glided about, and rose or sank to meet every
length of leg. Tables were no less obliging, but ran on
noiseless castors here or there when wanted. Tea-
trays ready set out, saucers of strawberries, jugs of
cream, and plates of cake, floated in, settled down,
and floated out again empty, with considerable tact
and good taste : they came and went through a
square hole high up in one wall, beyond which I presume
lay the kitchen. Two harmoniums, an accordion, a pair
of kettledrums and a peal of bells played concerted
pieces behind a screen, but kept silence during conver-
sation. Photographs and pictures made the tour of the
apartment, standing still when glanced at and going on
when done with. In case of need the furniture flat-
tened itself against the wall, and cleared the floor for a
game, or I daresay for a dance. Of these remarkable
details some struck Flora in the first few minutes after
her arrival, some came to light as time went on. The
only uncomfortable point in the room, that is, as to
furniture, was that both ceiling and walls were lined
throughout with looking-glasses ; but at first these did

272 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

not strike Flora as any disadvantage ; indeed she
thought it quite delightful, and took a long look at her
little self full length.'

As ' Commonplace, and other Short Stories ' has been
long out of print, and is therefore the least accessible of all
Christina Rossetti's works, and moreover as this book
widely differs from those with which her name is usually
associated, somewhat fuller attention shall be devoted to
it than might otherwise have been thought needful.

It is noteworthy not only that one family should
have produced two eminent poets — Dante Gabriel and
Christina Rossetti — but that these great poets should
have left behind them some very noble imaginative
prose work, small though the quantity be. It is further
remarkable that both Dante Gabriel's ' Hand and Soul '
and Christina's ' Lost Titian ' are stories concerned with
Art and artists. Both ' Hand and Soul ' and ' The Lost
Titian ' will live because of the creative ardour shown in
them. If we except the prose tales of William Morris
(whichjfine though they are, are in substance so different
that they cannot properly be discussed in this connec-
tion), none other of the great poets of the later years of
the century — Tennyson, Robert Browning, Mr. Swin-
burne and Matthew Arnold — ever wrote, or at any
rate ever published, any signed prose stories.

The volume under consideration seems to indicate
that at one period of her life Christina Rossetti had a
tentative purpose of becominga novelist I am unaware
that Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Felicia Hemans ever
published prose stories. But students of literary history
kiio\^-, of course, that Lxtitia Landon did so, as did
also .'\ugusta Webster,an infinitely greater poet ; while,
among other prominent women poets, the stories of Jean

PROSE STORIES— T* COMMONPLACE ' 273

Ingelow are familiar, and full of evidences of her genius.
This would seem to suggest that in the feminine mind
the art of writing verses and the art of writing stories
are somewhat akin. But notable objective poets like
Sir Walter Scott have also been notable novelists.
In truth viewed in some aspects the art of writing poetry
and the art of writing stories do not seem so dissimilar
as might at first sight appear. But the question is a wide
one and cannot profitably be dealt with at length here.
Although * Commonplace, and other Short Stories '
did not appear until 1870 when the authoress reached
her fortieth year we are told in the opening words of a
brief • Prefatory Note/ dated April 1870, that

'The earliest of these tales dates back to 1852, the
latest was finished in 1870.'

Concerning the interesting point of the date of these
various stories her brother has written to me as follows :

* " Nick " was an early performance, and seems to me
the most likely story to have been written in 1852. " The
Lost Titian " was also early ish, but more (I should say)
towards 1855. I incline to think that "Commonplace"
may have been the latest of all, and therefore the one
finished in 1870.'

Let us take them in the order in which they are
printed in the volume. 'Commonplace,* the longest,
evinces considerably more ability in construction than
any of the others, though in other respects it is not
the best. Its fair degree of originality can hardly be
questioned, yet I should have been disposed to find
in it traces of the influence of Mrs. Gaskell, and even
of Mrs. Oliphant in her quieter moods, had not Mr.
W. M. Rossetti informed me that in all probability
his sister never read the last-named of these two great

T

274 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

novelists. * Commonplace ' is a tale of three sisters,
Catherine, Lucy, arid Jane, whose several characters
are difTerentiated carefully and stand out clearly before
us, while in Miss Drum, their old school-mistress, Chris-
tina Rossetti shows that she could depict successfully a
personage with humorous traits.

In my judgment, for clear and natural colouring* The
Lost Titian* is the finest story in the book. Written
somewhat later than Dante Gabriers * Hand and Soul.'
it has, like that story, much atmosphere of its own, and
real mediaeval colour combined with absolute fidelity in
its delineation of the scenes depicted. Titian at the
height of his artistic power and fame, has completed
what he regards as his masterpiece, and summons t^^o
of his friends, Gianni and Giannuccione, to look at it on
the day before all Venice is to behold it. The two
friends vie with each other in its praise, and, before they
part, arrange that they shall meet again in the evening,
for Titian himself bids them

' " Rehearse to-morrow's festivities, and let your con-
gratulations forestall its triumphs."

* " Yes, ewiva ! " returned the chorus, briskly ; and
again " evviva ! **

*So, with smiles and embraces, they parted. So
they met again at the welcome coming of Argus-eyed
night.

'The studio was elegant with clusters of flowers,
sumptuous with crimson, gold-bordered hangings, and
luxurious with cushions and perfumes. From the walls
peeped pictured fruit and fruit-like faces, between the
curtains and in the corners gleamed moonlight-tinted
statues ; whilst on the easel reposed the beauty of the
evening, overhung by budding boughs, and illuminated
by an alabaster lamp burning scented oil. Strewn
about the apartment lay musical instruments and packs
of cards. On the table were silver dishes, filled with

PROSE STORIES — * THE LOST TITIAN* 275

leaves and choice fruits ; wonderful vessels of Venetian
glass, containing rare wines and iCed waters ; and foot-
less goblets, which allowed the guest no choice but to
drain his bumper.

'That night the bumpers brimmed. Toast after
toast was quaffed to the success of to-morrow, the
exaltation of the unveiled beauty, the triumph of its
author.'

The evening hours pass swiftly in merriment, despite
the fact that Titian feels secret uneasiness which Gianni
tries vainly to dispel by his skill in lute playing and
in singing, for he is an adept in both arts. At length
it is proposed that the three should gamble, the stakes
being high. * Gianni the imperturbable ' has lost, and
continues to lose ; his money, his pictures, his gondola,
his jewels, all have gone. Then, laughing, he turns to
Titian and says :

' Amico mio, let us throw the crowning cast. I
stake thereon myself ; if you win, you may sell me to
the Moor to-morrow, with the remnant of my patrimony ;
to wit, one house, containing various articles of furniture
and apparel ; yea, if aught else remains to me, that also
do I stake: against these set you your newborn beauty,
and let us throw for the last time ; lest it be said cogged
dice are used in Venice, and I be taunted with the true
proverb, — " Save me from my friends ^ and I will take care
of my enemies^

* " So be it," mused Titian, " even so. If I gain, my
friend shall not suffer ; if I lose, I can but buy back
my treasure with this night's winnings. His whole
fortune will stand Gianni in more stead than my picture ;
moreover, luck favours me. Besides, it can only be
that my friend jests, and would try my confidence."

' So argued Titian, heated by success, by wine and
play. But for these, he would freely have restored his
adversary's fortune, though it had been multiplied
tenfold, and again tenfold, rather than have risked his
Hfe's labour on the hazard of the dice.

T 2

276 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* They threw.

' Luck had turned, and Gianni was successful.

' Titian, nothing doubting, laughed as he looked up
from the table into his companion's face ; but no shadow
of jesting lingered there. Their eyes met, and each
read each other's heart at a glance.

* One, discerned the gnawing envy of a life satiated :
a thousand mortifications, a thousand inferiorities, com-
pensated in a moment.

* The other, read an indignation that even yet scarcely
realised the treachery which kindled it ; a noble indig-
nation, that more upbraided the false friend than the
destroyer of a life's hope.'

Venice wondered what had become of Titian's great
painting. Titian kept silence as to his friend's treachety
because ' branding Gianni as a traitor . . . would expose
himself as a dupe.* Giannuccione, the third reveller,
overcome by * drunken sleep * had seen * little ; and what
he guessed Titian's urgency induced him to suppress.'
Time wore on, everything seemed to prosper with Gianni,
but by-and-by his former fondness for play returned,
and he lost everything. For that night all his possessions
— and among them Titian's masterpiece — were his own,
on the morrow they would pass inevitably into other
hands. That splendid work he had hitherto kept in
secret, hoping when Titian was dead to proclaim
himself the painter of it, and so win * world-wide fame.'
Gianni was a craftsman of some little skill and much
resource. His resolution was taken. Seizing coarse
pigments, such as could be removed at pleasure, he
covered over Titian's work, and then painted on the top a
dragon suitable for an inn-sign. The next day, at the
meeting of his creditors, among whom Titian appeared
for the first time, intent on regaining his picture, Gianni
said that some of the more valuable of his effects had

PROSE STORIES — * THE LOST TITIAN * 277

recently been destroyed accidentally by fire, and that
the tavern sign (pointing to the dragon) had been
painted for an inn-keeper just deceased. This he re-
marked presumably hoping to be allowed to retain it as
valueless. At this point the dragon was claimed, some-
what unexpectedly, by a creditor, who was also an
inn-keeper. With much show of politeness Gianni
endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, alleging
that the dragon was not yet in a suitable condition to
leave his studio. But the inn-keeper was determined
and carried it off immediately. Gianni, in his subsequent
obscurity, devoted all his energies to 'concocting a
dragon superior in all points to its predecessor.* He
intended to induce the inn-keeper to take this and to
give back the dragon he now possessed. But, when the
new dragon was nearly finished, Gianni suddenly died,
and knowledge of the lost painting * died with him.*

In her Prefatory Note Christina Rossetti writes
respecting all the tales that are included in the volume,
but especially as to * The Lost Titian * :

* Not one of the stories is founded on fact.

* This might not seem worth stating, had I not reason
to fear that one or two of my kindest friends have
viewed " The Lost Titian ** somewhat in the light of an
imposture. I therefore take this opportunity of putting
on record that I am not conversant with any tradition
which points to the existence of a lost picture by that
great master with whose name I have made free.*

As to these remarks of his sister, Mr. William
Rossetti points out to me :

' The reason why " The Lost Titian '* might be viewed
as an imposture must be that somebody might suppose
the story to be a narrative of real fact : indeed I have a
rather clear impression that someone in our circle did

278 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

SO suppose. I think Christina had also, to some extent,
in her mind the fate which befell Gabriel's old " Germ "-
story named " Hand and Soul " ; for it is a fact that more
persons than one really believed what Gabriel says about
the picture in the Pitti &c., and actually made enquiry
for it on the spot'

* Nick ' and * Hero/ which follow * The Lost Titian'
are fairy stories. Both are good, but the latter reveals
perhaps a higher order of imagination, and was much
admired by Dante Gabriel. 'Vanna's Twins,' that
succeeds these, is a pretty and touching story of child-
life and evinces considerable power in delineating Italian
character of the lower middle class. It used to be a
great favourite with Mr. Swinburne. * A Safe Invest-
ment' might be termed an allegory of the relati\'e
advantages of, and difference between, heavenly and
earthly commerce, if * commerce ' be a permissible word
in such a connection. * Pros and Cons,* and * The Waves
of this Troublesome World ' (which concludes the
volume), are interesting only as illustrative of Christina
Rossetti's theological views and position ; indeed she
herself tells us that each of these stories was composed
with a special object.

Evidently in her later years Christina Rossetti
looked with disfavour on the book we are now discussing.
For, in September 1891 when sending a list of her
books to Mr. Patchett Martin, at his request, in prospect
of an article upon her in * Literary Opinion,' she re-
marked :

'Commonplace and other Short Stories. [Out of
print and not worth reprinting].'

It is impossible to concur with her judgment in this
instance.

PROSE STORIES — 'FOLIO Q* 279

I share her younger brother's regret that we do not
now possess * Folio Q/ in his opinion the best prose
story his sister ever wrote. Of this he spoke in his
* Memoir* of Dante Gabriel (vol. ii. p. 162) :

* It dealt with some supernatural matter — I think, a
man whose doom it was not to get reflected in a look-
ing glass (a sort of alternative form, so far, of " Peter
Schlemihl " ),'

and on the same subject to myself:

* The story, as written by C[hristina], had not, either
in intention or in fact the remotest savour of immorality :
but it contained some incident (I forget what) which
some readers, more knowing than C[hristina] might
have supposed to mean something or other which it did
not in the least mean — Gabriel noticed this and either
he or I conveyed the hint to C[hristina]. She without
further ado destroyed the MS.'

I have been pern)itted to examine the original manu*
script of * Maude,' mentioned before, and to make
what extracts seem desirable. The manuscript is a
quarto size notebook of ruled blue paper, with a stiff
paper cover, greyish in colour. The author's corrections,
few and unimportant in themselves, are interesting
because they are in the firm and bold handwriting of
her after years — handwriting so widely different from
the neat penmanship, deficient in individuality, in which
the body of the tale is written. Thus it is clear from
internal evidence that these alterations were made at a
considerably later date than that at which the rest of
the narrative was composed, and therefore, at least
once, she looked through it in mature life.* The title-
page is as follows :

* Mr. W. M. Rossetti states that this revision was made probably in
1870 or 1875.

282 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

' " Mamma received a letter this morning before I set
off; and she sent it hoping to amuse you. Shall I read
it aloud ? "

* " No, let me have it myself." Her eye travelled
rapidly down the well-filled pages, comprehending at a
glance all the tale of happiness. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert
were at Scarborough ; they would thence proceed to the
Lakes ; and thence most probably homewards, though
a prolonged tour was mentioned as just possible. But
both plans seemed alike pleasing to Mary ; for she was
full of her husband, and both were equally connected
with him.

' Maude smiled as paragraph after paragraph enlarged
on the same topic. At last she said : " Agnes if you
could not be yourself, but must become one of us three :
I don't mean as to goodness, of course, but merely as
regards circumstances, — would you change with sister
Magdalen, with Mary, or with me ? "

* " Not with Mary, certainly. Neither should I have
courage to change with you ; I never should bear pain
so well : nor yet with sister Magdalen, for I want the
fervour of devotion. So at present I fear you must even
put up with me as I am. Will that do ? "

* There was a pause. A fresh wind had sprung up
and the sun was setting.

.......

* " Agnes [said Maude] it would only pain Mamma
to look over everything if I die ; will you examine the
verses, and destroy what I evidently never intended
to be seen. They might all be thrown away together,
only Mamma is so fond of them. — What will she do ? " —
and the poor girl hid her face in the pillows.

* " But is there no hope, then ? "
* " Not the slightest, if you mean of recovery ; and she
does not know it. Don't go away when all's over, but
do what you can to comfort her. I have been her
misery from my birth till now ; there is no time to do
better. But you must leave me, please ; for I feel com-
pletely exhausted. Or stay one moment : I saw Mr.
Paulson [the clergyman] again this morning, and he
promised to come to-morrow to administer the Blessed
Sacrament to me ; so I count on you and mamma

PROSE STORIES — * MAUDE* 283

receiving with me, for the last time perhaps: will
you ? "

* " Yes, dear Maude. But you are so young, don't
give up hope. And now would you like me to remain here
during the night ? I can establish myself quite comfort-
ably on your sofa."

* " Thank you, but it could only make me restless.
Goodnight, my own dear Agnes."

* " Goodnight, dear Maude. I trust to rise early to-
morrow, that I may be with you all the sooner."

* So they' parted.*

' That morrow never dawned for Maude Foster.

* Agnes proceeded to perform the task imposed upon
her, with scrupulous anxiety to carry out her friend's
wishes. The locked book she never opened : but had
it placed in Maude's coffin, with all its records of folly,
sin, vanity ; and she humbly trusted, of true penitence
also. She next collected the scraps of paper found in
her cousin's desk and portfolio, or lying loose upon the
table ; and proceeded to examine them. Many of these
were fragments, many half-effaced pencil scrawls, some
written on torn backs of letters, and some full of incom-
prehensible abbreviations. Agnes was astonished at the
variety of Maude's compositions. Piece after piece she
committed to the flames, fearful lest any should be pre-
served which were not intended for general perusal : but
it cost her a pang to do so ; and to see how small a
number remained for Mrs. Foster. Of three only she
took copies for herself. The first was dated ten days
after Maude's accident.

* The second, though written on the same paper, was
evidently composed at a subsequent period :

Fade, tender lily,

Fade, O crimson rose.
Fade, every flower,

Sweetest flower that blows.

284 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Go, chilly Autumn,

Come O Winter cold ;
Let the green stalks die away

Into common mould.

Birth follows hard on death,

Life is withering.
Hasten, we shall come the sooner

Back to pleasant Spring. —

' Agnes cut one long tress from Maude's head ; and
on her return home laid it in the same paper with the
lock of Magdalen's hair. These she treasured greatly :
and gazing on them, would long and pray for the
hastening of that eternal morning which shall reunite in
God those who in Him, or for His sake, have parted
here.

' Amen for us all.'

i

285

CHAPTER IX

DEVOTIONAL PROSE

Annus Domini — *Seek and Find' — 'Cahed to be Saints' — 'Letter
and Spirit '— « Time Flies '— « The Face of the Deep.'

* Annus Domini/ which was issued in 1874, through
the publishing house of Messrs. James Parker & Co.,
Oxford and London, is the first in point of date of
Christina Rossetti's devotional prose works, and deserves
particular attention, as it presents many features showing
the inception of her later devotional prose style. ' Annus
Domini ' is called on the sub-title page ' a prayer for
each day of the year, founded on a text of Holy Scrip-
ture/ Following the title-page is a brief commenda-
tory note by the Rev. William Henry Burrows mentioned
before. Next comes a short Prefatory Note by the
author, and then two pages occupied by what she names
a ' Calendar * wherein the numbers are given of certain
of the prayers which presumably she considered appro-
priate to memorable periods of the Christian year, such
as Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Septuagesima, Lent,
Passiontide, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Whitsun-
tide, Holy Trinity, Saints' Days, Feast of the Blessed
Virgin, S. Michael and All Angels, Ember Weeks, and
Rogation Days. Each prayer is addressed to Christ
These prayers are not so imaginative as Christina's later

t/

286 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

devotional work. Perhaps this restraining of the

imagination may have arisen on her part from her deep

reverence for prayer as prayer, and her feeling, once or

twice expressed to me, that no human creature, however

skilful, ought wantonly to embroider with his own

ability petitions to the Almighty. It may also have

arisen partly from the fact that her symbolism became

more developed in later life. But even in this book we

find her remarkable power of evoking spiritual sublimit}''

from Biblical passages which at first sight do not

appear to contain it in a great degree. As an example

of her writing here page 354 may be quoted in its

entirety :

' Rev. XV. 4.

* " Who shall not fear Thee^ O Lord^ and glorify Thy
Name ? for Thou only art Holy!*

* O Lord Jesus Christ, Who only art Holy, forgive, I
implore Thee, forgive and purge the unholiness of Thy
saints, the unholiness of Thy little ones, the unholiness
of Thy penitents, the unholiness of the unconverted,
the unholiness of me a sinner. God be merciful to us
sinners. Amen.'

Occasionally we see the influence of the Book of
Common Prayer and it is not too much to say that she
has sometimes caught much of its well-ordered gjrandeur.
Perhaps there is almost an excessive realism in these
words, part of a petition to Christ :

* By virtue of Thy victory give us also, I entreat
Thee, victory. Let Thy pierced Heart win us to love
Thee, Thy torn Hands incite us to every good work,
Thy wounded Feet urge us on errands of mercy, Thy
crown of thorns prick us out of sloth. Thy thirst draw
us to thirst after the Living Water Thou givest : let
Thy life be our pattern while we live, and Thy death
our triumph over death when we come to die. Amen.'

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * SEEK AND FIND ' 287

But how beautiful, how full of the true rhythm of
the finest English prose is the following :

* O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings, draw, I
beseech Thee, all Kings of the earth to come and
worship before Thee. Bless them who for our sakes
are burdened with responsibility and cares ; teach us
to reverence, love, and obey them in all things lawful ;
and in the next world of Thy goodness give them with
us rest. Amen.'

* Seek and Find ' was published in 1879, and on the
title-page is termed by its author * A double series of
short studies of the Benedicite.' In a * Prefatory
Note' on the succeeding page, she tells us that in
writing her book she consulted the * Harmony ' by the
Ijate Isaac Williams (presumably his work entitled ' A
Harmony of the Four Evangelists '). She goes on to
say that, as she is unacquainted with either Hebrew or
Greek, any 'textual elucidations' were obtained from
* some translation,' and that she discovered * many valu-
able alternative readings ' ' in the Margin of an ordinary
Reference Bible.'

Following the * Prefatory Note,' under the general
heading of * The Benedicite,' are five pages of small type
setting forth the contents of the volume, each of the
five pages being divided into three columns, as seen in
the illustrative extract given below :

THE BENEDICITE.

THE fRAISB-CIVERS ARE

O all ye Works of the
Lord, bless ye the
Ixitd : praise Him,
and magnify ^Him
for ever.

GODS CREATURES,

God saw ever3rthing
that He had made,
and, behold, it was
very good. (Gen.

i. 31.)

CHRIST S SERVANTS.

The Word was God.
All things wer6
made by Him ; and
without Him was
not anything made
that was made.
(St. John i. I, 3.)

288 CHRISTINA ROSSETTl

The ' first series ' of ' studies,' called on the sub-title-
page 'Creation,' occupy one hundred and fifty-three
pages ; while the ' second scries,' termed ' Redemption,'
fill one hundred and fifty>ntne pa^es.

In a letter to Christina, (October 8, 1879), her
brother Dante Gabriel says that he finds ' Seek and
Find ' ' full of eloquent beauties,' and then adds :

' I am sorry to notice that — in my own view — it is
most seriously damaged, for almost all if not for all
readers, by the confusion of references in the text, which
they completely smother. Surely these should all have
been marginal, and not nearly so numerous. [Mr.
Frederic] Shields, who was of course much interested in
seeing the book, took quite the same view in this.'

The volume might certainly have been better arranged.
But, this objection stated, little but praise ought to be
given to a work that contains so many noble prose
sequences. ' It is the Spirit that quickencth ' — Christina
Rossetti, without knowing Hebrew and Greek, was,
nevertheless, frequently able to flash light on a Scrip-
tural phrase, or series of phrases, owing to a devout
use of her poet's intuition, for, generally speaking, she
approaches even her prose work from the standpoint of
a poet. Throughout 'Seek and Find * her characteristic
inclination towards symbolism is everywhere displayed
and mainly with happy effect, although once and again,
as In her disquisition on the connection between fishes
and men, she appears to carry her symbolism a little
too far. Perhaps the finest disquisition in the book is
that on angels — a disquisition valuable not only for the
ideas set forth therein, but because some of these ideas
seem to be more fully the outcome of her personal
experience than is usual even with Christina Rossetti.

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * CALLED TO BE SAINTS ' 289

The excerpt that follows, sets forth some of these
ideas :

* Since we believe that even in this life wc dwell
among the invisible hosts of angels, — since we hope in
the life to come to rejoice and worship without end in
their blessed company, let us collect what we already
know of these our unseen fellows, that by considering
what are their characteristics, we ourselves may be
provoked unto love and to good works/ (Heb. x. 24).

' Seek and Find * is not one of Christina Rossetti's great
books, but it is not unworthy of her, and is further
noticeable as exhibiting her great knowledge of the
Bible.

* Called to be Saints : The Minor Festivals
Devotionally Studied,* was published in 1 88 1. The saints
and festivals dealt with in the volume are St. Andrew,
' Apostle ' ; St. Thomas, * Apostle * ; St. Stephen,
* Deacon ' ; St. John, * Apostle and Evangelist ' ; The
Holy Innocents ; St. Paul, * Apostle' ; The Presentation
and Purification ; St Matthias, 'Apostle' ; The Annun-
ciation ; St. Mark, * Evangelist ' ; St Philip and St
James the Less, * Apostles ' ; St Barnabas, * Apostle ' ;
St John, * Baptist ' ; St Peter, * Apostle ' ; St Janries
the Great, * Apostle ' ; St Bartholomew, * Apostle ' ; St
Matthew, * Apostle and Evangelist ' ; St Michael and
All Angels ; St Luke, * Evangelist ' ; St Simon and
St Jude, ' Apostles ' ; and All Saints.

Prefixed to the volume is * The Key to my Book,
a short essay ending with the lyric * This near-at-hand-
land * to which reference has been made at the begin-
ning of Chapter VI I. To each of the saints a separate
section is given. Each of these sections is again sub-
divided into brief dissertations, and in the contents each

u

.^90 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

. of these has a separate heading. The first of these head-
ings is always styled * The Sacred Text * ; the second,

* Biographical Additions ' ; the third, * A Prayer/ a com-
position written wholly by Christina Rossetti, and partly
.based on the characteristics of the especial saint com-
memorated. Then comes what is designated as * A
•Memorial.' These ' memorials ' are noteworthy in many
ways, and arc often of considerable length, the memorial
of St. Andrew, for example, extending to ten pages of
fairly close type. They show their author's intimate
acquaintance with the Bible, and her great power in
•bringing the passages she cites to bear on the particular
subject she has in hand. Each of the pages in these

* memorials ' is divided midway into two portions.
•At the opening of the left-hand column are the first
words of some brief commcntatory matter, supplied
by Christina Rossetti, and printed in block typc.and these
.commentatory words arc interspersed in the left-hand
column of the * memorials ' throughout the book. For
purposes of example this commentatory matter in the
first three pages of the memorial to St. Andrew has been
given below, and printed consecutively, but, to save space,
more closely than in the author's text, asterisks being
placed where breaks occur in the original :

* St. Andrew of Bethsaida • • • learns of St. John
Baptist, follows Christ and abides with him that day,
* * * brings to our Lord his brother, * * * on whom a
new name is bestowed, * * * is called from the nets to
be fisher of men, * * * is ordained Apostle.*

Following each of these detached phrases, and set in

the same type as the rest of the volume, are Scripture

. passages. relating either to the Saint's history, or mainly

.interpreting it. In the right-hand column are texts

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * CALLED TO BE SAINTS '291

• from the Bible also in usual type illustrative of, but not
directly referring to, the saint. Further there is a little
treatise, often most delicately phrased, relating to
some flower, and to each of the saints she appropriates
some particular flower. To St Andrew, for instance,
she appropriates the daisy. She adds likewise, in the
case of the Apostles, a short disquisition on each
particular precious stone with which she associates
them, the disquisitions in their case being suggested by
Rev. xxi. 14 :

* And the wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb.'

She follows the order of the precious stones given
in the same chapter of Revelation, verses 19 and 20,
and, adopting the Ecclesiastical Calendar in the
assignment of the stones, gives the jasper to St. Andrew
and, proceeding in regular order, gives the amethyst,
the last of the stones mentioned, to St Jude — the
latest apostle in the Ecclesiastical Calendar. Scattered
throughout the prose text moreover are some of her
most exquisite and solemn lyrics, fervid and intense in
their piety, ecstatic in their rapture, but these, as they
are discussed in Chapter VII., need not be referred to
in detail here.

Following Rev. iv. 7 :

' And the first beast was like a lion, and the second
beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a
man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle,*

and the traditions of many centuries, she appropriates the
fourth living creature, the eagle, to St John, with a few
words charged with fitting symbolism ; while in a similar

u 2

/

292 CHRISTINA KOSSETTI

manner she gives the first living creature, a lion, to
St Mark ; the third living creature, an angel, to St
Matthew ; and the second living creature, an ox, to
St. Luke.

The prose of * The Key to my Book ' is full of that
rhythmical beauty noticeable especially in much of her
devotional prose, — i>erhaps, because the mental qualities
required in order to write such prose with a high degree
of excellence, were precisely the qualities she pjossesscd
Her simple yet sensuous mind— a mind stored with
poetic imagery— found in such work a stimulus to loft>'
achievement Nor, in her case, is this lofty achieve-
ment ever gained by elaborate artifice. Her arrange-
ment and choice of words are as unartificial as the wild
flowers of England, which she prefers to associate
with the saints she loves, rather than the flora of
Palestine. Very tender and touching are these opening
words :

* How beautiful arc the arms which have embraced
Christ, the hands which have touched Christ, the eyes
which have gazed upon Christ, the lips which have
spoken with Christ, the feet which have followed
Christ

* How beautiful are the hands which have worked
the works of Christ, the feet which treading in his foot-
steps have gone about doing good, the lips that have
spread abroad his name, the lives which have been
counted loss for him.'

Her description of * Hepaticas * which she allocates
to Matthias is an excellent example of her admira-
ble power of idealising a merely botanical descrip-
tion. Work such as this is exceedingly difficult. If
ordinary language be used, then the cftect is common-
place and dull. If overmuch symbolism be employed,

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * CALLED TO BE SAINTS ' 293

then the result seems strained and unreal. In this
instance, however, the result is most successful. The
passage which follows is especially pretty and fanciful :

* Hepaticas favour a light soil, and love to meet the
morning sun rather than to endure a more continuously
sunny exposure. They do not well bear moving, or at
the least they bear it not always with indifference : an
instance is quoted of one changing from blue to white
when transplanted, whilst on returning to its former soil
the enduring plant resumed its original tint. Humble
in height, the hepatica may be termed patient in habit ;
for during one whole year the blossom, perfect in all its
parts, lurks hidden within the bud.

* This plant belongs to the family of Anemones or
Wind-flowers ; and, as a wind-flower, seems all the more
congruous with St. Matthias ; . . . When, the lot having
already fallen on him, " suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind," that wind
which " bloweth where it listeth," and on him as on the
rest the Fiery Tongue of consecrating power lighted and
sat.

* Kindly as the hepatica thrives amongst us, it yet is
no native of England, but comes to us from Switzerland.
Thus if hepaticas prefer repose, they yet submit to
transference, blooming cheerfully in their allotted
sphere.'

Mention may be made of an exquisite little homily
on violets ; of her * Prayer for Conformity to God's Will ' ;
and of her disquisition on * Arbutus and Grass,' which
she designates as * great and small,' and assigns to
All Saints Day. In the discourse last-named there
is one of the autobiographical touches which, when they
occur in her work, are always interesting.

' Often as I have let slip what cannot be regained,
two points of my own experience stand out vividly ;
once, when little realising how nearly I had despised
my last chance, I yet did in bare time do what must

294 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

shortly have been for ever left undone ; and again, when
I fulfilled a promise which beyond calculation there
remained but scant leisure to fulfil.'

As to this passage Mr. William Rossetti has sent
me the following communication :

* [Concerning] those references made by Christina in
" Called to be Saints." As to '* doing in bare time what
would shortly have been un-do-able," the natural
inference seems to be that she did something or other
in relation to a person who soon afterwards died. As
to a promise which was fulfilled, but only just in time, a
similar inference again suggests itself It is just as
likely as not that the incidents were in themselves of
the very slightest consequence possible ; for C[hristina]
often bore such matters in mind, if any sort of principle
seemed to be involved in them.'

The last quotation that shall be made from ' Called
to be Saints ' is from her meditation on St. Michael and
All Angels, and may be said to be a complement to
the passage concerning angels in ' Seek and Find ' lately
referred to. The extracts which here follow show how
deep was the spirituality of her nature.

' Now of all which is, that which is made kno^^n
unto us is undoubtedly made known for our profit
Let us not fail to love God all the more because He
hath given His Angels charge concerning His own to
keep them in all their ways ; because the armies of
heaven pitch their camp around the faithful when need
arises ; because blessed spirits minister to the heirs of
salvation ; because they rejoice over one sinner that
repenteth : — for all this we know assuredly, whether or
not with a multitude of pious souls we solace ourselves
by the thought of one Angel guardian assigned to each
baptised person. . . . When it seems (as sometimes
through revulsion of feeling and urgency of Satan it
may seem) that our yoke is uneasy and our burden

*»W^io«ui I TT Jin

DKVOTIOXAL PROSE — * LETTER AND SPIRIT* 295

unbearable, because our life is pared down and subdued
and repressed to an intolerable level: and. so in one
moment every instinct of our whole self revolts against
our lot, and we loathe this day of quietness and of
sitting still, and writhe under a sudden sense of all we
have irrecoverably foregone, of the right hand, or foot,
or eye cast from us, of the haltingness and maimcdncss
of our entrance (if enter we do at last) into life, — then
the Seraphim of Isaiah's vision making music in our
memory revive hope in our heart.'

Probably with the single exception of * The Face of
the Deep,* * Called to be Saints ' is more thoroughly
and beautifully built up through symbolism than any
other of Christina Rossetti*s devotional books.

Lady Mount-Temple 'found joy in* * Called to be
Saints ' (to use Mr. Shields*s happy phrase). He told
this to Christina who, in a letter to him now before me,
expresses her great satisfaction at hearing it.

' Letter and Spirit : Notes on the Commandments,'
published in 1883, is dedicated

To

My Mother
in thankfulness for her
dear and honoured
example.

— a dedication specially interesting in view of some Words
to Mr. Shields, which may here be inserted. , Writing
from * Church Hill, Birchington-on-Sea,* under date
August 23, 1883, Christina says:

' Thank you for welcoming " Letter and Spirit " —
my Mother's life is a far more forcible conimcnt on
the Commandments than are words of mine.'

As its title ' is doubtless meant to indicate, * Letter
and Spirit ' is a treatise on the inner meaning of the

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298 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Commandments. Christina places in full on the first
page of her book Christ's exposition of the Decalogue
as it is given in Mark xii. 28-30, and Matt xxii. 39—40,
and then quotes the entire Decalogue itself, the rest of
the work being an exposition of it The volume ends
with a Harmony on I. Corinthians xiii. and in the
right column parallel sayings of Jesus culled from the
Gospels.

On a first glance at this book one is apt to think
that, in form at least, it partakes too much of the
character of the ordinary religious commentary. Not
till we have looked further into it do we perceive it
filled with the same qualities which have made her
other devotional prose remarkable — the qualities I mean
of symbolism and a chastened form of imagination.
The original manuscript of * Letter and Spirit ' is now in
the possession of Mr. Fairfax Murray, and he has been
good enough to allow me to examine it with some care.
Like many other of her manuscripts, particularly the
; manuscripts of her later prose works, it is written on
^ ordinary blue paper, quarto size, and in somewhat large
handwriting, with considerable space between the lines,
and with comparatively few erasures.

* Letter and Spirit ' is the only one of her books,

except * Seek and Find,' and Speaking Likenesses,*

^ which contains no verse of her own. It is likewise note-

worthy from the fact that only two lines of verse of other

writers are quoted — the lines of Bishop Heber : —

Richer by far is the heart's adoration,
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

Seldom in her books did she quote the verses of
other poets. Probably this was because, in her case, it

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * LETTER AND SPIRIT ' 299

was SO easy to write verse. But was there another
reason ? It is a somewhat interesting field of specula-
tion.

In none of her books does she approach more nearly
to theological disquisition than in the volume at present
under discussion. A conspicuous instance of this is to
be seen in her remarks about the Trinity. A portion of,
these remarks may be quoted to show her in a polemical
mood — a mood unusual with her :

* " Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is one Lord :
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength." ,

' This first, " the Great," Commandment is character-
ised by unity. Whatever else we find in it, this is one
of its essential features, if not its leading feature. And,
in fact, within this unity is bound up the entire multi-
tude of our duties ; out of this one supreme command-r
ment have to be developed all the details of every one
of our unnumbered obligations. i

* " Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is one Lord." .
While "the Christian verity" declares to us the mystery >
of the All-Holy Trinity, " the Catholic religion " asserts^
the inviolable Unity of the Godhead [Athanasian Creed]..
And touching these two mysteries, it seems that to grasp,
hold fast, adore the Catholic Mystery leads up to man's,
obligation to grasp, hold fast, adore the Christian,
Mystery ; rather than this to the other. What is
Catholic underlies what is Christian : on the Catholic,
basis alone can the Christian structure be raised ; even
while to raise that superstructure on that foundation is.
the bounden duty of every soul within reach of the full
Divine Revelation. In God's inscrutable Providence it;
has pleased Him that millions of the human race should
live in unavoidable ignorance of Christian doctrine : to
that fundamental, doctrine of God's unity, from which.
the other is developed. He has graciously vouchsafed a
freer currency ; so that while the Jewish Church knew iV
by revelation, multitudes of the Gentile world knew or)

300 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

at least surmised it by intellectual or spiritual enlighten-
ment. Let us thank God that this main point of know-
ledge we hold in common with so vast a number of our
dear human brothers and sisters, children alongf ^th
ourselves of the all-loving Father ; let us thank Him
through Jesus Christ that we Christians are instructed
how thus acceptably to thank Him ; let us beseech Him
in that all-prevailing Name to add to each of us, what-
soever we be, every lacking gift and grace.

•Whilst Unity appears the sole existence essential to
be conceived, our conceiving it as separate from ourself
attests at once our likeness and our unlikeness to iL
That which we conceive is on our own showing other
than ourselves who conceive it: yet to conceive that
which has no existence is (I reverently assume) the
exclusive attribute of Almighty God, Who out of
nothing created all things. To modify by a boundless
licence of imagination the Voice of Revelation, or of
tradition, or our own perceptions, concerning the universe,
its Ruler, inhabitants, features, origin, destinies, falls
within the range of human faculties. And thus may not
light be thrown on that mass of bewildering error (whose
name is legion) which at every turn meeting us as man's
invention, is after all a more or less close travestie of
truth ? So like in detail, so unlike as a whole, to the
truth it simulates, that alternately we incline to ask : If
so much is known without immediate revelation, where-
fore reveal ? If truth pervades such errors, if such errors
can be grafted upon truth, is truth itself distinguishable
or is it worth distinguishing?

* At first sight and apparently the easiest of all
conceptions to realise, I yet suppose that there may
in the long run be no conception more difficult for
ourselves to clench and retain than this of absolute
Unity ; this Oneness at all times, in all connexions, for
all purposes.*

The following passage has importance both because
it shows the strength of her convictions and because
it comes from the pen of a great poet with a poetic
environment almost unique — from a poet moreover

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — 'LETTER AND SPIRIT* 3OI

whose intense love of beauty was perhaps as great as

«

that of any poet of our century :

' And if that be not mere fancifulness which seeks to
trace a parallel between the Second and Seventh Com-
mandments, it seems to follow by parity of reasoning
that as regards whatever leads to sensual temptation a
rule of avoidance, rather than of self-conquest or even of
self-restraint, is a sound and scriptural rule. For the
Jews were bidden not to degrade or defile, but absolutely
to do away with all idols, and to obliterate every trace
of idolatry ; not one image might they hoard as a
curiosity or an antiquity or a work of art ; neither were
they encouraged, even if under any circumstances it
might be lawful for them, so much as to investigate the
subject of heathen rites : " When ye are passed over
Jordan into the Land of Canaan ; then ye shall drive
out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and
destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten
images, and quite pluck down all their high places'"
(Num. xxxiii. 51, 52); "Thus shall ye deal with
them ; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their
images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven
images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the
Lord thy God " (Deut. vii. 5, 6) ; " When the Lord thy
God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither
thou gocst to possess them, and thou succeedest them,
and dwellest in their land ; take heed to thyself that
thou be not snared by following them, after that they be
destroyed from before thee ; and that thou enquire not
after their gods, saying. How did these nations serve
their gods ? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not
do so unto the Lord thy God : for every abomination to
the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their
gods " (Deut xii. 29-31).

* " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that,
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him ; for we
shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this
hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure"
( I St. John iii. 2, 3). Blessed indeed are the pure in heart,
for they shall sec God. With such a beatitude in view,

302 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

with SO inestimable a gain or loss at stake, with such a
prize of our high calling, in Christ Jesus to yearn for, all
we forego, or can by any possibility be required to forego.
becomes — could we but behold it with purged impartial
eyes — becomes as nothing. True, all our lives longr wc
shall be bound to refrain our soul and keep it low : but
what then ? For the books we now forbear to read, wc
: shall one day be endued with wisdom and knowledge.
For the music we will not listen to, we shall join in the
song of the redeemed. For the pictures from which wc
turn, we shall gaze unabashed on the Beatific Vision.
For the companionship we shun, we shall be welcomed
into angelic society and the communion of triumphant
saints. For the amusements we avoid, we shall keep the
supreme Jubilee. For the pleasures we miss, we shall
abide, and for evermore abide, in the rapture of heaven.
It cannot be much of a hardship to dress modestly and
' at small cost rather than richly and fashionably, if with a
vivid conviction we are awaiting the "white robes" of
the redeemed. And indeed, this anticipation of pure
and simple white robes for eternal wear may fairly shake
belief in the genuine beauty of elaborate showiness cA'en
for such clothes as befit us in " the present distress " ;
Solomon in all his glory was outdone by a lily of the
field, and all his glory left him a prey to sensuality : and
this launched him into shameless patronage of idol-
worship ; until the glory of his greatness and the lustre
of his gifts, combined with heinousness of his defection,
have remained bequeathed to all ages as an awful warn-
ing beacon.'

Nothing is more unreasonable than the opinion so
• often expressed and apparently truly felt that the poetiC
mind is deficient in practical attributes. The exact
reverse is not seldom the case with the higher types of
.poetic genius, and certainly nothing could be more
practical than the exhortations of Christina Rossetti in
this book. She refers to England by name, and is per-
suaded ' that our national honour, wealth, credit, already
.impaired' probably implies, 'unless wc repent' the

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * LETTER AND SPIRIT ' 303

commencement * of our chastisement.' By and by she
remarks that it is *no h'ght ofTence to traduce the
dead.' If we believe that every man and woman born
into the world since its beginning still lives a life
unbroken by death — still retains *one continuity of
individual existence from birth to this nioment, from
this moment to the Day of Judgment ' — if we feel assured
that, with them, we shall ourselves be judged, then
must we realise in full that to cherish * malice ' towards
them is * simply devilish ' — then must we realise what * a
solemn thing it is to write history ' ; and she concludes
by this personal reference, striking in its graceful homeli*
ness:

* I feel it a solemn thing to write conjectural sketches
of Scripture characters ; filling up outlines as I fancy,
but cannot be certain, may possibly have been the case ;
making one figure stand for this virtue and another for
that vice, attributing motives and colouring conduct.
Yet I hope my mistakes will be forgiven me, while I do
most earnestly desire every one of my personages to be
in truth superior to my sketch.'

Wc have likewise some carefully thought out remarks
on the arrangement of daily life ; on the relative import-
ance of rest and work ; and on what really constitutes
work, what rest.

The beautiful ' Harmony,' alluded to already, opens
with a little note, in which she tells her readers that it
* was in part if not wholly suggested to me,' and though
the person who made the suggestion is not certainly
known, it was most probably her sister Maria.

She approaches, as said before, in * Letter and Spirit '
more nearly than in her other writings to theological
disquisition. She was not a professed theologian. She
had too .distinct a bias to the symbolical — to the poetic

304 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

— and was too little touched by the merely intellectual,
to excel in theological disquisition. Occasionally, how-
ever, particularly in her prose devotional works, ^ive come
upon passages in which her natural commonsense and
her natural eloquence enable her to deal with themes
more or less theological with much powen

* Time Flies : A Reading Diary,' with the appropriate
motto * A day's march nearer home ' from James Mont-
gomery, was published in 1885. It was dedicated thus:

To

My Beloved Example, Friend,

Mother.

* Her children arise up^ and call her blessed,^

' Time Flies ' has the distinction of containing more
frequent personal references than any other of her books,
unless it be * The Face of the Deep.' Indeed it may
almost be called a kind of spiritual autobiography. For
even when there are no obvious personal allusions many
of the original thoughts and pregnant sayings that
enrich the book must have had their root in her own
spiritual experience. Probably having to write some-
thing about each day in the year, something that must
necessarily be short, and that ought also to be concise
and pithy, she fell back, unconsciously, on her own wide
experience, wide, not in the outer but in the inner sense.
Be this as it may, what has just been said gives an
added and peculiar value to 'Time Flies,' altogether
apart from the remarkable literary merit of the book.

As showing Christina Rossetti's breadth of mind and
ample charity, despite her firm and unwavering faith
not only in religion but in dogma, it is worthy of note,

*'a«VM*^*»^V«'*'>B^i^MM>rf

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — 'TIME FLIES 305

that very often in the course of these books we encounter
passages which none could have written but a woman
who had thought for herself, and who had not reached
her present standpoint without much deep meditation.
Seldom does she allow her passion for symbolism to
carry her too far, and thus her symbolism rarely becomes,
as we have often seen it become in the hands of lesser
writers, something almost ridiculous. This in itself is a
great achievement. For, as may easily be imagined, in
a volume of brief devotional essays such as this * reading
diary ' is in effect, it is most difficult to discuss in a few
words, and without a sense of the ridiculous, such
questions, for instance, as whether the association of
' tapers and bonfires ' with St. Blaise arose or did not
arise out of a quibble on his name. To January 24,
she allocates the sonnet beginning :

* Give Me thy heart.' I said : Can I not make
Abundant sacrifice to Him Who gave
Life, health, possessions, friends, of all I have.

All but my heart once given ?

terming the sonnet * devotional.' She further adds that a
* friend ' gave it to her many years before, and that she
now reproduces it from memory. The * friend ' was
James Collinson.

Sometimes Christina Rossettl introduces in a
characteristic manner her opinions respecting subjects
only indirectly connected with the theme which she is
treating at the moment. Thus under date of February 5,
and in relation to the Feast of St. Agatha, Virgin
Martyr (who is supposed to have * suffered death ' about
the year 251) she tells how Catania and Palermo
claim to be the birthplace of * this heroine of piety * ;
how Quintianus, * Consular of Sicily ' loved Agatha ;

X

306 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

and how, when he found that Agatha remained a
Christian and repelled his overtures, his affection
towards her became repugnance. She narrates further
how he ' exhausted cruelty and torture ' on her in vain,
and how subsequently Agatha died in prison. Then
she discusses anew, with simplicity and force, the
familiar problem of how far a man or a woman may
differ on important points and yet love one another
Her conclusion is that much real affection may exist
despite important differences of opinion, and she closes
her remarks by quoting St. Paul's words at Athens

* I found an altar with this inscription, " To the Unknown
God." '

* Time Flies ' contains many sayings of Christina's
full of striking commonsense such as this : • For mstnyarc
they of whom the world is both " not worthy " and
Ignorant,' or this under date of February i8, where she
adduces some excellent lessons from the ' quaint remark '
of a friend who said, concerning her own — not Christina
Rossetti's — feet, that it was a good thing they were so
large for thus anyone could wear her boots. Then we
have a neat and sensible little homily, with considerable
freshness, on the * square man in a round hole.' Later
we have a cheerful little exhortation on the subject of

* dirt ' as the symbol of * something out of place.' Still
later there is a timely disquisition on the relative
duties of hospitality in which she points out that

* In many cases the person who annoys and the
person who is annoyed are both in the right, or (if you
please) are both in the wrong ' —

illustrating her proposition by the differing standards of
courtesy of an Arab chief and his English guest.

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * TIME FLIES ' 307

In response to an enquiry as to whether the poem
allocated to February 1 5 beginning

My love whose heart is tender, said to me,

and ending

And still she keeps my heart and keeps its key,

refers to her sister, her younger brother writes to me :

* I certainly regard it as applying to Maria. The
2nd line, " a moon lacks light " &c., is conclusive to me.
Maria had a very round face, and Christina was much in
the habit of calling her Moon, Moony, &c. I have no
doubt that Maria on some occasion made this her cue
for saying something very like what appears in the
poem. However I never knew her to call C[hristina]
her " Sun," or anything of the sort*

At February 8 are some subtle and carefully dif-
ferentiated remarks respecting heaven and music, in the
course of which Christina points out that music to be
music must not be monotonous, and that therefore * a
heaven of music,' even if that conception of heaven
be not somewhat narrow and unreasonable, would be
a place of variety, not of monotony. Under date of
March 28 and April 16, she shows conclusively that,
what she aptly calls physical ' grievous besetments,* may
not relatively be disadvantageous ; she also at the second
date avers how even our most cherished opinions almost
inevitably are modified by time, drawing therefrom this
cheerful moral :

* If even time lasts long enough to reverse a verdict
of time, how much more eternity }

' Let us take courage, secondary as we may for the
present appear. Of ourselves likewise the comparative
aspect will fade away, the positive will remain.'

At March 7 we meet with a few words about Vivia

X %

308 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Perpetua, the martyr, on the subject of whose pathetic
career the author of * Nearer my God to Thee * wrote a
drama full of force and poetical enthusiasm. Christina
Rossetti's special powers of reasoning are admirably
used in her moralisings on the Feast of SL George,
Martyr. The entry under May 8 has peculiar interest,
and reveals her love of William Blake :

* There is a design by William Blake symbolic of
the Resurrection. In it I behold the descending soul
and the arising body rushing together in an indissoluble
embrace : and the design, among all I recollect to have
seen, stands alone in expressing the rapture of that
reunion : '

— an opinion worth quoting when we recollect bow

great, apparently, was the influence of Blake on her
own work, though it is right to add what Mr. William
Rossetti tells me :

'It would I think be an error to suppose that
C[hristina] at any time read B[lake] much or con-
stantly — certainly she prized the little she did read.'

The entry under May 8 closes with a suitable
quotation from Cayley's translation of Dante's * Para-
dise,' Canto XIV.

Under date of August 30 tact is discussed shrewdly.
Her entry for the following day, (where she dwells on
the resemblance, once pointed out to her, between a
grey parrot and an elephant) seems at first sight to have
a quality akin to humour, were it not for the grim
seriousness of the words with which she concludes :

* It is startling to reflect that you and I may be
walking about unabashed and jaunty, whilst our fellows
observe very queer likenesses amongst us.

* Any one may be the observer : and equally any one
may be the observed.

DEVOTIONAL PROSE * THE FACE OF THE DEEP ' 3O9

' Liable to such casualties, I advise myself to assume
a modest and unobtrusive demeanour.
' I do not venture to advise 7(7«.*

In a right sense she had a fearlessness, almost a con-
tempt of current opinion, and, under date of Septem-
ber 30, she recalls with approval the saying of Jerome
to the lady Asella : * I know we may arrive at heaven
equally with a bad, as a good name.* There is deep
spiritual teaching in the following words which occur
under date of December 20 :

* St Thomas doubted.

* Scepticism is a degree of unbelief : equally therefore
it is a degree of belief. It may be a degree of faith.

* St Thomas doubted, but simultaneously he loved.
Whence it follows that his case was all along hopeful*

* The Face of the Deep : a Devotional Commentary
on the Apocalypse ' has as motto * Thy judgments
are a great deep * — Psalm xxxvi. 6. It was dedicated

To

My Mother

for the first time

to her

beloved, revered, cherished memory,

and was published in 1 892 by the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge.

In the simple and touching account given by Mr.
William Rossetti (in his memoir of Dante Gabriel) of
the early education of his brother and sisters we are
told how their good mother instructed them in the
Bible, and in this connection the Apocalypse is espe-
cially mentioned. There is therefore fair ground for

V

3IO CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

supposing that Christina Rossetti's knowledge of the
Book of the Revelation, and her fondness for it, had their
origin in very early days, probably, in Mr. William
Rossetti's opinion, by the age of eight or nine. Should
such be the case, and the inference is just, it is striking
and beautiful to think that her last, and in some respects
her greatest literary achievement, was a commentary on
l the Book she had loved as a child.

*The Face of the Deep' deals systematically with
the entire * Book of the Revelation of St. John,' a chapter
in the commentary being devoted to each Chapter of the
Book. One, two, or three verses of the chapter under
consideration are placed in block type, being followed
by a paragraph or paragraphs of comment

Two and a half, or perhaps three years elapsed
between the date at which she first commenced to write
her treatise and the date on which she handed the
completed manuscript to her publishers.

The commentary, as indicated by the sub-title, is of
course largely devotional. No effort of set purpose is
made on the author's part to expound prophecy, nor
does she make any fixed attempt at exegesis. Through-
out, the reader is impressed by her childlike humility
and by her unconsciousness of the fact that she possessed,
in addition to her other gifts, no small share of mis-
cellaneous learning. Very frequently when a word or
phrase suggests something to awaken her lyrical gift, she
breaks forth into snatches of exquisite song. Through-
out the commentary we have also many noble prose
litanies (to use the apt word by which Mr. Shields
spoke of them to me). In these sequences her rich
diction and fine ear for the rhythm of prose enable her
to excel. Some of these, indeed most of them, are

DEVOTIONAL PROSE * THE FACE OF THE DEEP ' 3 1 1

choice examples of rhythmically-balanced and delicate
prose. Once and again, indeed, she reaches such a
high level of style that her work is comparable with
the finest masterpieces of prose composition in the
English language — with the work, for example, of the
translators of the authorised version of the English
Bible of James the First's time — of the compilers of
'The Book of Common Prayer' — and with great
writers like Hooker and Jeremy Taylor.

Her 'Prefatory Note,' with its reference to her
sister Maria, has been spoken of in Chapter II. at page
63. It is couched in that characteristic vein of dignified
humility (the phrase is used for lack of a better) with
which students of her writings are familiar. This,
indeed, is the secret of her wide influence. Very
original likewise are the opening words wherein she
implies that if she cannot * dive ' and * bring up pearls '
she may at least * collect amber.* * Though,' she adds, ' I
fail to identify Paradisaical ** bdellium," I still may hope
to search out beauties of the "onyx stone."' These
words are the keynote of the entire commentary.

Of a commentary of such considerable length as
* The Face of the Deep,' (extending to five hundred and
fifty-two pages) it is manifestly undesirable, even if
space permitted, to give a full and detailed analysis.
The interspersed verse has been discussed in Chapter
VII., and it will therefore be sufficient to advert to
some of the more important prose passages.

She bases her opening sentences on the first two
verses of chapter i. of the Revelation, and writes :

*" Things which must shortly come to pass." — At the
end of 1800 years we are still repeating this "shortly,"
because it is the word of God and the testimony of

^

y

312 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Jesus Christ ; thus starting in fellowship of patience
with that blessed John who owns all Christians as his
brethren (see ver. 9)/

so emphasising anew what she regards as the central idea
of the book. In the course of her remarks on Rev. i. 12-
16, we have one of the first outbursts of devotional
feeling which, noticeable in all Christina Rossetti's
religious works, are especially so in * The Face of the
Deep.' And these outbursts of devotional — of ecstatic
feeling grew in intensity as she proceeded in the writing
of this treatise — as the sublimity of her theme grradually
took a deeper hold of her mind. Nothing shows more
clearly her essential sanity, her essential commonsense
— qualities in which her mind was akin to the greatest
minds of all ages — than that never throughout * The
Face of the Deep ' has she once departed either from
sanity qr commonsense. And remembering the tempta-
tions which the obscurity, as well as the abounding
symbolism of the theme, must have had for her, who
was at once so devout, so poetic, and so prone to sym-
bolism, to say this of * The Face of the Deep ' is to say
much, and yet not to laud it unduly.

Conspicuous examples of her litanies are to be
found on pages 132, 151, 155, 175, 209, 226, 265, 280, 282,
3231 398, 407* 408, 426, 456, 472, and 474. One of the
shortest, though not less expressive of these, is that on
the page first named :

* O Saviour, show compassion !

* Because if Thou reject us, who shall receive us ?

* O Saviour, show compassion.

* Because we are half dead, yet not wholly dead,

* O Saviour, show compassion,

* Because Thou art the Good Samaritan, the Good

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * THE FACE OF THE DEEP* 313

Physician ; bind up our wounds pouring in Thine oil
and Thy wine, take care of us, provide for us, set us
forward on our way, bring us home. And because
Thou lovest us, even for Thine own sake,

* O Saviour, show compassion.'

Students of style will observe the carefully balanced
sound of the modulated cadences. Very different, yet
equally beautiful, is that other somewhat longer litany
addressed to Christ, from which this is an extract :

* Lord Jesus, lovely and pleasant art Thou in thy
high places, Thou Centre of bliss, whence all bliss
flows. Lovely also and pleasant wast Thou in Thy
lowly tabernacles. Thou sometime Centre wherein
humiliations and sorrows met.

* Thou Who wast Centre of a stable, with two saints
and harmless cattle and some shepherds for Thy Court,

* Grant us lowliness.

* Thou Who wast Centre of Bethlehem when Wi^e
Men worshipped Thee,

* Grant us wisdom.

* Thou Who wast Centre of the Temple, with doves
or young pigeons and four saints about Thee,

* Grant us purity.

* Thou Who wast Centre of Egypt, which harboured
Thee and thine in exile,

* Be Thou our refuge.

* Thou Who wast Centre of Nazareth where Thou
wast brought up,

* Sanctify our homes.

' Thou Who wast Centre of all waters at thy Baptism
in the River Jordan,

* Still sanctify water to the mystical washing

away of sin.

* Thou Who wast Centre of all desolate places during
forty days and forty nights,

* Comfort the desolate.

' Thou Who wast Centre of a marriage feast at Cana,

* Bless our rejoicing.

J

L'

314 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

* Thmi Who wast Centre of a funeral procession at
Nain,

* Bless our mourning.

* Thou Who wast Centre of Samaria as Thou sattest
on the well,

' Bring back strayed souls.
*Thou Who wast Centre of all heights on the Mount
of Beatitudes,

* Grant us to sit with Thee in heavenly places.

' Thou Who wast Centre of sufferers by the Pool of
Bethesda,

Heal us.

* Thou Who wast Centre of all harvest ground when
Thou wentest through the cornfields with Thy disciples,

* Make us bring forth to Thee thirty, sixty, a

hundredfold.'

The litany beginning,

* Jesus Who didst touch the leper,

Deliver us from antipathies ;
' Who didst dwell among the Nazarenes,

Deliver us from incompatibility,'

«

is introduced by what the author terms 'Purlieus and
Approaches which tend towards or border upon Hatred
of the Righteous ' part of her commentary on the text,

* Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the
trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in
their foreheads.*

She tabulates and numbers eight of these ' purlieus and
approaches ' aforesaid under various headings. Some
of these headings are notably original, as this :

6. * Reciprocal angles, yours always in the wrong,'
or this :

7. ' Reciprocal soreness, I always in the right,'

and the paragraph succeeding these headings is quaintly
effective :

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — * THE FACE OF THE DEEP* 315

' Taking one a day, you will require a week and a
day for your self-reform. I, alas ! foresee requiring much
more than a week and a day for mine.'

Equally quaint is her diction in the passage concern-
ing the * transcendent riches of poverty/ where the * holy
woman/ unmentioned by name, was her sister Maria,
who had given her a piece of their mother's needlework.

Somewhat further on, we have this thoughtful obser-
vation — giving a glimpse into her own mind :

* Absolute darkness engulfs me when I ,5ittempt to
realise the origin of evil. Yet even in that darkness
which may be felt and which I feel, one point I dare
not hesitate to hold fast and assert : evil had its origin
in the free choice of a free will. Without free will there
can be neither virtue nor vice; without free choice
neither offence nor merit'

The litany which follows her exposition of Rev. xviii.
22, 23, and which seems suggested also by Mark viii.
36, 37, is not quite so successful in literary qualities,
for it does not reach the high level of style of some of
its predecessors. Students of Christina Rossetti should
not, however, fail to read and study noble examples
of litanies at pages 456, 472, and 474, in which they
will find fine instances of the skilful use of antithesis.

The remarkable phrase * There was no more sea'
(Rev. xxi. i) has often caused perplexity not unmingled
with a vague feeling of regret. Is the phrase to be taken
literally, or is * the sea ' to be regarded merely as an em-
blem of sorrow — sorrow that is to be * done away ' ? St.
John wrote the Apocalypse in Patmos — an island — the
sea would therefore necessarily seem to him (each time
that, with weary heart, he looked upon it) as something
that separated him from those he loved best Thus by
a mental process, with which all thinkers are familiar, the

31 6 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

cause would appear eventually to stand for the efifect,
and the sea itself would become unconsciously an emblem
of separation. Nor must we forget that the passion for
the sea is a passion of comparatively modem times. It
was a passion unfelt by the ancients.

Christina Rossetti's observations on this point are
so fraught with her own peculiar symbolism, so full of
the idiosyncrasies of her own mental attitude in regard
to interpretation, that they are well worthy of quotation.
She says jfi the course of her commentary on Chapter
xxi.

' z. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth :
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away ; and there was no more sea.

* Heaven and earth arc to be renewed. Not so the
sea : " There was no more sea." And wherefore not the
sea :

'Regarding the first creation as symbolical, one
answer (however inadequate, please God, not contradic-
tory of truth) suggests itself. The harvest of earth
ripened, was reaped, was garnered : the sea nourished
and brought up no harvest. It bore no fruits which
remain, it wrought no works which follow it. It was
moreover originally constituted as a passage, not as an
abode : across it man toiled in rowing to the haven
where he would be, but itself never was and never could
become that haven. Thus it presents to us a picture of
all which must be left behind.

• •••••■

* Yet how shall we be consoled for our lost sea with
its familiar fascination, its delights, its lifelong endeared-
ness ? Lo ! heaven enshrines its own proper sea of glass
as it were mingled with fire, and the uplifted voice of
the redeemed is as the sound of many waters. There
at last is fulness of that joy, whereas the sea never yet
was full ; there plenteousness of pleasures as a river.
There music unheard hitherto, unimaginable, in lieu of
the long-drawn wail of our bitter sea.

, _ 1 "■■«■

DEVOTIONAL PROSE — ' THE FACE OF THE DEEP * 3 1 7

*0r if after all we cannot during our actual weakness
be thoroughly and consciously consoled on this point,
let it at least bring home to us that better it is to enter
into life, halt, or maimed, or one-eyed, than having two
feet, hands, eyes, to be shut out To suffer loss and be
saved is better than to forego nothing and be lost.

'"There was no more sea." — As in a far different
matter, " For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." '

Here is an explanation showing the analytical faculty
of the explainer. It occurs in her remarks on * And he
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blas-
pheme His Name, and His tabernacle, and them that
dwell in heaven ' (Chap. xiii. 6),

* Devils are not atheists : we are emphatically certi-
fied that they believe and tremble. During our Lord's
earthly ministry, devils even proclaimed Him in the
audience of men.

* Atheism appears to be a possibility confined to a
lower nature. A body seems to be that which is
capable of blocking up spirit into unmitigated material-
ism. ** No man has seen God at any time : " that flesh
and blood which cannot inherit the kingdom of God
may, if it will, deny His existence.'

The love, the gentleness, which abode with her are
never more evident throughout her writings than in
' The Face of the Deep,' yet she was stern and uncom-
promising in her views as to sin itself, as is seen by the
closing words of a portion of her remarks as to * So he
carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness,' &c.
(Chap. xvii. 3).

* To each such imperilled soul. Angel and Apostle
here set a pattern. If we too would gaze unscathed
and undefiled on wickedness, let us not seek for enchant-
ments, but set our face towards the wilderness. Strip
sin bare from voluptuousness of music, fascination of
gesture, cntrancement of the stage, rapture of poetry,

I/'

3l8 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

glamour of eloquence, seduction of imaginative emotion ;
strip it of every adornment, let it stand out bald as in
the Ten stem Commandments. Study sin, when study it
we must, not as a relishing pastime, but as an embittering
deterrent Lavish sympathy on the sinner, never on
the sin. Say, if we will and if we mean it, Would God I
had died for thee : nevertheless let us fiee at the cry of
such, lest the earth swallow us up also.'

The passage immediately ensuing is given here
chiefly because of its autobiographical allusion and its
characteristic admission of error. How few authors
would have been equally candid ! The person referred
to was probably her sister Maria :

* It was once pointed out to me, that in the Bible
the first mention of a Iamb occurs in connection with
Abraham's virtual sacrifice of Isaac : " Isaac spake
untcj Abraham his father, and said, My Father : and he
said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood : but where is the lamb for a burnt offer-
ing ? And Abraham said. My son, God will provide
Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering." And I think the
observation is essentially correct, despite the " seven ewe
Iambs " of the preceding chapter ; inasmuch as these do
not belong (so to say) to the same spiritual context
Yet, had I been aware of both texts, I should not (in
See^ and Find) without a modifying clause have referred
to Isaac's words as absolutely ^rj/.

* [Which oversight invites me to two wholesome pro-
ceedings: to beg my reader's pardon for my errors;
and ever to write modestly under correction.] '

Mr. Shields has pointed out to me how naive, yet how
charmingly individual, is this sentence which she placed
at the close of * The Face of the Deep ' — her latest and,
as I cannot help thinking, in virtue of many fine qualities
both of thought and of style, her noblest prose work : —

* If I have been over-bold in attempting such a work as
thiSy I beg pardon^

319

CHAPTER X

CRITICAL SURVEY

Remarks respecting various aspects of Christina Rossetti*s work, and

reasons why it is likely to retain its value.

It is not possible to accentuate overmuch the influ-
ence on Christina Rossetti of her Italian lineage, her early
surroundings, and the fact that, when quite young, her
mind was saturated with Italian literature. She was
probably influenced first by her father, and, at a little
later date, by Metastasio the lyric poet Her surviving
brother tells me that she never cared much for Petrarch :
and * of Boccaccio,' he remarks, ' she never, I should say,
read a dozen lines.'

He adds :

* But she was greatly fascinated by Tasso when she first
read that poet about 1848. She also enjoyed parts
of Ariosto though she forebore to read him freely for
fear of coming upon " improper " passages.'

She was as deeply influenced by Dante as was any other
member of the Rossetti family, but this was not until a
subsequent period. In mature life her knowledge of
Dante, and even of Petrarch was great, as is shown by
the skilfully chosen quotations from both these writers,
prefixed to each of the sonnets in her noble sonnet-
sequence * Monna Innominata.'

Her elder brother told Mr. Arthur Hughes, and

320 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

several of his other early friends, that he regretted the
morbidity of his sister's work. And there can be no
doubt that there is some ground for the r^ret Many,
even of the finer of her earlier poems, have an atmo-
sphere, which, in another poet, we should consider
unreasonably sad. Greatness, however, is justified of its
results, and we are tempted to feci that even Christina
Rossetti's most morbid strains (* the skeletons of Chris-
tina's various closets,' to quote a droll phrase from a
letter by her brother, the poet, to her mother, a letter
distinguished because of its rather grim humour) were
right and reasonable merely because they were hers.
Nor must it be foi^otten that many young poets, Tenny-
son is a familiar example, had a tendency towards
morbidity, or at least to melancholy, in their early
work. It may be, as Mr. J. S. Cotton, the well-known
scholar, once said to me when discussing this subject,
that sadness in itself is sometimes a sign of the posses-
sion of the higher poetic qualities in imperfect develop-
ment

The critic of the far future, of whom we hear so
much and think so little, will accord a high place
among the great poets of this century to the poet to
whom we owe * Amor Mundi,' * An Apple Gathering,'
* Maude Clare,' * The Convent Threshold,' and ' Maiden-
Song.' He will single out as amongst the finest love
songs in our language such a flawless lyric as ' When I
am dead, my dearest ' — a lyric so full of atmosphere, so
perfect in its tenderness and in its portrayal of affection.

Christina Rossetti was akin to Blake, and her kinship
to some of the Elizabethan poets, such as Southwell,
was hardly less near. Her own symbolism was allied
to the symbolism of Blake, notably in such a piece as

CRITICAL SURVEY — BLAKE 32 1

his poem entitled ' The Lamb ; ' and she felt likewise
the same kind of sympathy with Nature as he did.
She had not, like Blake, those visions of the super-
natural which our practical commonsense rejects as
hallucinations, but, like him, she abode in London, the

* most earthly of earthly cities,' to quote a phrase of Mr.
Alfred H. Miles in his excellent article on Blake in

* The Poets and the Poetry of the Century,' and, like
Blake also, she was often * away in Paradise.'

Since the death of Christina Rossetti it has several
times been asserted that Elizabeth Barrett Browning was
the greater poet of the two, because her poems dealt
with themes of more widespread human interest Possi-
bly Christina Rossetti thought that some of the sub-
jects handled by Elizabeth Barrett Browning were not
suitable for treatment in poetry. Certainly what has
been said in Chapter III. as to Christina Rossetti's
attitude respecting vivisection, minors' protection, and
other such measures, shows as keen interest on her part
in social and philanthropic projects as that evinced by
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, though she did not, like
the author of * The Cry of the Children,' write a great
poem on any such theme.

No formal adjudication on two poets so eminent as
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti
shall be attempted here. Henceforward lovers of
English literature will feel gladness that our language
is enriched by the masterpieces of both poets, and will
probably feel equally grateful for both; It may not,
however, be out of place to state certain points of
agreement or of contrast between them.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti
were alike in their ardent aflection for Italy, and both

Y

322 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

women were equally firm believers in the essential truths
of Christianity. No doubt Elizabeth Barrett Browning
was the more learned of the two, in the academic sense
of the word, for, unlike the author of ' Wine of CypniSy*
Christina Rossetti was unacquainted with Greek or
Hebrew, nor had she that intuitive sympathy with the
classic attributes, temper, and mood of mind which fs
sometimes apparent in the work of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning. Certainly the outlook on life of the
two great writers under consideration was not a little
different ; the last named was naturally disposed to
broader views both in social and ethical matters than
was Christina Rossetti.

Though, as just indicated, both had great fondness
for Italy, their views as to liberty in general, and possibly
as to liberated Italy, were not the same. The author
of * Casa Guidi Windows ' held strongly the conception
of liberty almost as a *good in itself (which was one of
the tenets of a certain group of thinkers among whom
she moved in later life) rather than as merely a means
to an end.

The finest work of Christina Rossetti in verse reaches
a higher point of technical excellence than the finest
work of Elizabeth Barrett Browning ; indeed, it might
be said that Christina's verse as a whole is of higher
technical excellence than that of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning. In religion the latter had a much wider
view than had Christina, for her mind was less concerned
with the doctrinal aspects of faith than with problems,
such as the problem of the mystery of suffering, which lie
just beyond the sphere of devotion — problems such as
that which she dealt with in * Cowper's Grave,'

It is well worthy of note that both Elizabeth Barrett

CRITICAL SURVEY — E. B. BROWNING 323

Browning and Christina Rossetti were distinguished as
writers of sonnets. Thelatter's elder brother is reported
to have said that his sister could not have written
the 'Sonnets from the Portuguese.' The justice of
the remark may appear doubtful when we recollect
the superb and individual series of sonnets, called * Monna
Innominata' — sonnets charged with the most ethe-
realised love passion in its most spiritual development.
In all coming time it will be one of the chief glories of
Christina Rossetti that * Monna Innominata/ though
based on the same general theme as the * Sonnets from
the Portuguese/ should show no indebtedness to them
in thought or in metrical resource.

Perhaps No. xliii. of the * Sonnets from the Portu-
guese ' beginning —

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, —

is most akin to Christina Rossetti*s method ; and this,
and that yet more noble sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, entitled * Perplexed Music,* commencing :

Experience, like a pale musician, holds
A dulcimer of patience in his hand —

a sonnet in theme, conception, and execution, one of the
most perfect in the language — should be examined care-
fully by the student of poetic form who wishes to see the
aspects of similarity and of difference between our two
more famous women poets. Such a comparison will
show furthermore that it is simple, elemental emotion^
adequately expressed, which makes a poem reall}*^ great,
not Art alone, though, of course, Art when properly used,

is an invaluable aid. Dante Gabriel passed some severe

V 2

324 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

strictures on certain of his sister's poems owing to what
he called the * falsetto muscularity * of their • Barrett-
Browning style.' ^ Personally I am not of opinion that
these strictures were justifiable. In my view, hardly any,
if any, trace of the influence of Elizabeth Barrett Brown-
ing is discernible in Christina Rossetti's work.

Had space permitted it would have been well to
give a detailed analysis, accompanied by full quota-
tions, of the way in which Christina Rossetti's treatment
of the love passion varies from that of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning. Possibly it may be admitted that the latter
writer has, in some respects, a greater human interest in
poems like * The Rhyme of the Duchess May,' * Bertha
in the Lane,' and ' The Lay of the Brown Rosary/ This
is because her way of looking at life was broader than
Christina Rossetti's, and she had perhaps a deeper in-
sight into ordinary social intercourse. For this reason
I do not think Christina 'Rossetti could have given us
poems like • The Lady's Yes,' * A Man's Requirements,'
or * Amy's Cruelty ' — poems which show great knowledge
of the nuances which go to make up everyday con-
duct. * A Man's Requirements ' might almost be called
a satire on the disposition of the conventional male
when contemplating love-making. ' Amy's Cruelty' *
again, though instinct with equal fidelity and truth, goes
deeper, and tells us, as only a woman of genius could
tell us, a woman's feelings with regard to love. Bui,
after all, these poems owe their success not to their
qualities as poems but to their vividness and insight in
depicting the conditions they describe. Readers of

• » See] Da9iie Gabriel Rossetii: His Family Letters, with a Mmoif^
vol. ii. p. 323.

CRITICAL SURVEY — INFLUENCE OF ITALY 325

Chapter III., will have observed what were Christina
Rossetti's opinions on the much-debated question of
the equality of the sexes. Here it may be noted that
Elizabeth Barrett Browning disagreed with her abso-
lutely, for, as Mr. W. T. Stead says aptly, in his
preface to the selection from Elizabeth Barrett Brown-
ing's poems in his * Masterpiece Library ' :

* No one more keenly resented than Mrs. Browning
the comparative praise, implying positive blame, that
eulogises her work merely as woman's work, and not on its
merits as work. " Please to recollect," she wrote once to
a friend, " that when I talk of women I do not speak of
them as many men do . . . according to a separate
peculiar and womanly standard, but according to the
common standard of human nature." As with life, so
with art, and the work which is the product of artistic
life. It is good in itself, or bad in itself, irrespective of
the sex of its author.'

Few who had the high privilege of knowing Chris-
tina Rossetti personally, or who have even a thorough
acquaintance with her work, can doubt either the pro-
found influence which Italy exercised over her, or her
deep sympathy with the cause of Italian liberation.
It is therefore significant of the essential divergences of
temperament between the two women that it is to
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the Englishwoman by
descent and association, not to Christina Rossetti, that
we owe stirring poems of the liberation of Italy such
as • First News from Villafranca ' and * A Tale of
Villafranca,' and especially that vivid poem, full of the
pathos of a woman's grief, called * Parted Lovers.' In
Christina Rossetti's * Italia, io ti saluto ! ' there is pathos
also, but it is the personal, not the national note, that
we hear in this exquisite last stanza :

J26 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

But when our swallows fly back to the South,
To the sweet South, to the sweet South,

The tears may come again into my eyes
On the old wise,
And the sweet name to my mouth.

I am tempted irresistibly to make some comparison,
however short, between Christina Rossetti*s work and
that of Jean Ingelow. Both poets have given us re-
markable poems which deal with varying aspects of the
supernatural. Though Christina Rossetti's * The Hour and
the Ghost/ and Jean Ingelow's * Requiescat in Pace ' are
dissimilar in much, they are similar in this, that both
achieve the difficult task of introducing the super-
natural by simple means ; in both poems the fine effect?
are the result of atmosphere, of intuition, rather than
of definite statement. No poem of the supernatural can
be really effective unless it reaches its higher effects by
suggestion. It is so with Coleridge's * Christabel,* and it
is this quality in the two poems under discussion which
gives them a rank almost classic.

Both poets are firm believers in the verities of the
Christian faith, though Jean Ingelow has less symbolism,
and looks on religion from a somewhat different and
perhaps a more English standpoint.

The present monograph is a record as well as a
study; therefore it may not be unfitting if certain
critical remarks by contemporary writers as to Christina
Rossetti arc introduced here. Mr. Swinburne's admira-
tion is well known, and is expressed in these lines taken
from his * Ballad of Appeal ' to her :

Blithe verse made all the dim sense clear
That smiles of babbling babes conceal :
Prayer's perfect heart spake here : and here

CRITICAL SURVEY — CONTEMPORARY OPINION 327

Rose notes of blameless woe and weal,
More soft than this poor song's appeal.
Where orchards bask, where cornfields wave,
They dropped like rains that cleanse and lave.
And scattered all the year along,
Like dewfall on an April grave,
Sweet water from the well of song.

When writing to Mr. Hall Caine, her elder brother
says :

* [Mr.] Swinburne, who is a vast admirer of my sister's,
thinks the " Advent " perhaps the noblest of all her
poems, and also specially loves the " Passing Away," I
do not know that I quite agree with your decided
preference for the two sonnets of hers you signalise, — the
"World " is very fine, but the other, " Dead before Death,"
a little sensational for her. I think " After Death " one
of her noblest, and the one " After Communion." In my
own view, the greatest of all her poems is that on
France after the siege — "To-day for Me." A very
splendid piece of feminine ascetic passion is "The
Convent Threshold." '

In a Preface contributed to Mr. A. C. Pollard's
edition of Herrick, Mr. Swinburne writes (and this
further praise is emphatic on account of its connection) :

' It has often been objected that he [Herrick] did
mistake himself for a sacred poet : and it cannot be
denied that his sacred verse at its worst is as offensive
as his secular verse at its worst ; nor can it be denied
that no severer sentence of condemnation can be passed
upon any poet's work. But neither Herbert nor Crashaw
could have bettered such a divinely beautiful triplet as
this : —

We see Him come, and know Him ours.
Who with His sunshine and His showers
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.

' That is worthy of Miss Rossetti herself: and praise
of such work can go no higher.'

328 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Mr. W. M. Rossetti never achieved better critical
work than when, in his spirited defence of his old friend,
Mr. Swinburne,' he wrote characteristically, and with
admirable and subtle perception, about his own sister :

* The reader will find in one place a reference to the
writings of a member of my own family. I advisedly
keep this exactly as it stood, being better pleased that
it should be published with my name to it than (as
would have been done according to the original scheme;
anonymously. I should not have shirked to have the
anonymous tribute traced home to me ; and am still
less loth to avow that tribute — saying in it, as I have
done, nothing beyond what I know or believe to be
true. The last man who need love the anonymous
system is a self-respecting critic acquainted with many

of the persons concerning whom it is his lot to write.

• ■ . • ■

*The last of our present poetic quartett, Christina
Rossetti, is a singer of a different order from all these,
reaching true artistic effects with apparently little study
and as little of mere chance — rather by an internal
sense of fitness, a mental touch as delicate as the finger-
tips of the blind. She simply, as it were, pours words
into the mould of her idea ; and the resultant effigy
comes right, because the idea, and the mind of which it
IS a phase, are beautiful ones, serious, yet feminine and
in part almost playful. There is no poet with a more
marked instinct for fusing the thought into the image, and
the image into the thought : the fact is always to her
emotional, not merely positive, and the emotion clothed
in a sensible shape, not merely abstract. No treatment
can be more artistically womanly in general scope than
this, which appears to us the most essential distinction
of Miss Rossetti's writings. It might be futile to seek
for any points of direct analogy or of memorable
divergence between Mr. Swinburne and Miss Rossetti.
The prevalent cadence of the poem " Rococo," and the
lyrical structure of " Madonna Mia," may, however,
suggest that the poet is a not unsympathetic reader of

• Swittbunui's Poems and Ballads, A Criticism,

CRITICAL SURVEY — CONTEMPORARY OPINION 33^

the poetess's compositions ; nor is " The Garden of
Proserpine " much unlike some of these so far merely as
lyrical tone is concerned/

In his striking essay entitled 'Reminiscences of
Christina Rossetti/ to which allusion has been made
elsewhere, Mr. Watts-Dunton remarks respecting her
poetic art :

* Of all contemporary poets, she had seemed to me
the most indubitably inspired. I had made a life-long
study of poetic art, yet Christina's art-secret had baf-
fled me. Her very uncertainty of touch, as regarded
execution, seemed somehow to add to the impression
she made upon me of inspiration. She never (as her
brother William, who has gratified me by reading these
pages, reminds me) " made up her mind that she would
write something, and then proceeded to write it. She
always wrote just as the impulse and the form of expres-
sion came to her, and if these did not come, she wrote
not at all." But it was not her inspiration which over-
awed me at the idea of meeting her. It was the
feeling that her inspiration was not that of the artist at
all, and not that of such dramatic passion as in other
poets I had been accustomed to, but the inspiration of
the religious devotee. It answered a chord within me,
but a chord that no poet had theretofore touched.

* It seemed to me to come from a power which my
soul remembered in some ante-natal existence and had
not even yet wholly forgotten.*

Mr. Andrew Lang in * The Cosmopolitan Magazine '
for June, 1895, wrote as follows :

' There can be little doubt that we are now deprived
of the greatest English poet of the sex which is made
to inspire poetry, rather than to create it. Except Mrs*
Browning, we have no one to be named with Miss
Rossetti in all the roll-call of our literary history ....
We have had, it is true, in Scotland, lady lyrists whose
songs, like Lady Naime's and Lady Anne Lindsay's, I
myself prefer to all the works of Miss Rossetti, Mrs.

330 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Browning, Miss Proctor, and Mrs. Hemans. Sut for
the quality of conscious art, and for music and colour of
words in r^ular composition, Miss Rossetti seems to
myself to have been unmatched. The faults of Mrs.
Browning she did not follow, and curious it is that the
more learned lady shows most of the errors which learn-
ing is supposed to counteract Things of Miss Rossetti s
will live with things of Carew s and Suckling s/

Dr. Richard Gamett in * The Dictionary of National
Biography ' said :

* Her " Goblin Market " is original in conception,
style, and structure, as imaginative as the "Ancient
Mariner," and comparable only to Shakespeare for
the insight shown into unhuman and yet spiritual
natures/

In *The New Review' of February 1895, Mrs.
Mcyncll spoke finely thus :

* To the name of poet her right is so sure that proof
of it is to be found everywhere in her " unconsidered
ways," and always irrefutably. How docs this poet or
that approach the best beauties of his poem ? From
the side of poetry, or from the side of commonplace ?
Christina Rossetti always drew near from the side of
poetry : from what to us, who are not altogether poets,
is the further side. She came from beyond those hills.
She is not often on the heights, but all her access is by
poetry. Of few indeed is this so true.*

Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson, in * The National
Review * of February 1895, remarked discerningly about
her :

* Some writers have the power of creating a species of
aerial landscape in the minds of their readers, often
vague and shadowy, not obtruding itself strongly upon
the consciousness, but forming a quiet background, like
the scenery of portraits, in which the action of the lyric
or the sonnet seems to lie. I am not now speaking of
pictorial writing, which definitely aims at producing,

CRITICAL SURVEY CONTEMPORARY OPINION 33 1

With more or less vividness, a house, a park, a valley, but
lyrics and poems of pure thought and feeling, which
have none the less a haunting sense of locality in which
the mood dreams itself out.

'Christina Rossetti's mise-en»scene is a place of
gardens, orchards, wooded dingles, with a churchyard in
the distance. The scene shifts a little, but the spirit never
wanders far afield ; and it is certainly singular that one
who lived out almost the whole of her life in a city so
majestic, sober, and inspiring as London, should never
bring the consciousness of streets and thoroughfares and
populous murmur into her writings. She, whose heart
was so with birds and fruits, cornfields and farmyard
sounds, never even revolts against or despairs of the huge
desolation, the laborious monotony of a great town. She
does not sing of the caged bird, with exotic memories
of freedom stirred by the flashing water, the hanging
groundsel of her wired prison, but with a wild voice, with
visions only limited by the rustic conventionalities of
toil and tillage. The dewy English woodland, the sharp
silences of winter, the gloom of low-hung clouds, and
the sigh of weeping rains are her backgrounds.'

In 'The Poets and the Poetry of the Century* Mr.
Arthur Symons has pointed out certain aspects of her
genius with much lucidity and force :

* The secret [of her style] — which seems inno-
cently unaware of its own beauty — is, no doubt, its
sincerity, leading to the employment of homely words
where homely words are wanted, and always of natural
and really expressive words ; yet not sincerity only, but
sincerity as the servant of a finely touched and excep-
tionally seeing nature. A power of seeing finely beyond
the scope of ordinary vision : that, in a few words, is
the note of Miss Rossetti's genius, and it brings with it
a subtle and as if instinctive power of expressing subtle
and yet as if instinctive conceptions ; always clearly,
always simply, with a singular and often startling homeli-
ness, yet in a way and about subjects as far removed from
the borders of commonplace as possible. This power is
shown in every division of her poetry ; in the peculiar

332 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

witchery of the poems dealing with the supernatural, m
the exaltations of the devotional poems, in the particu*
lar charm of the child-songs, bird-songs, and nature
lyrics, in the special variety and the special excellence
of the poems of affection and meditation. The union
of homely yet always select literalness of treatment with
mystical visionariness or visionariness which is sometimes
mystical, constitutes the peculiar quality of her poetry
— poetry which has, all the same, several points of
approach and distinct varieties of characteristic'

Mr. Lionel Johnson, in * The Academy * of July 25,
1896, has remarked concerning her with true critical
acumen ;

* Doubtless her poems, now comprised in three col-
lected volumes, include many a piece of airy fantasy,
many a laughing lyric, many a poem bom of external cir-
cumstance ; but her characteristic greatness lies in her
most intimate, most severe, most passionate and sacred
poems : in the work which sets her in the company
of Herbert, Vaughan, the converted Donne, Crashaw,
Father Southwell, the divine Herrick, Cardinal Newman.
And by this it is not meant that her obviously and osten-
sibly sacred poems are alone her greatest : many
others, poems of meditation or of passion, with no distinct
Christian cry in them, stand side by side with the
poems divine and devout. Her fair and stem philo-
sophy of life, which never fails to draw to itself her
choicest powers of art, is that which marks out her
poetry for distinction and for admiration. Her more
external work, with its gaieties and beautiful imaginings,
is full of delights.'

Christina Rossctti was not always happy in her choice
of titles, though occasionally, in titles like * Amor Mundi,'
like ' The Hour and the Ghost,' or like * The Face ot
the Deep,' her choice was particularly good. I have
reason to suppose that she experienced some difficulty
in finding titles which pleased her. But, whether my

CRITICAL SURVEY CONTEMPORARY OPINION 333

supposition in this respect be correct or no, it is clear
that ' Echo ' is a feeble and unmeaning title for the
exquisite lines beginning :

Come to me in the silence of the night

in * Goblin Market and other Poems/ and that * The End
of the First Part ' is not a felicitous title for an ecstatic
religious lyric. Occasionally throughout her work we have
phrases which sound somewhat un-English ; perhaps also
in her verse she uses too often contractions like * I'd.' Not
^dom some of her critics have cavilled at her frequent
use of unrhymed lines. Such critics must not forget
that many of our best poets introduced similar unrhymed
lines when using the same metrical forms as she has done.
But even if we admit that such objections contain a
certain degree of truth, we must not fail to recollect that

* a special quality of her verse is a curiosa felicitas
which makes a metrical blemish tell as a suggestive
grace '

(to quote a good phrase in Mr. Watts-Dunton's
article on Christina Rossetti in * The Athenaeum * of
January 5, 1895).

Regarding the ruggedness for which some of her
later poetical work has been censured, Mr. W. M.
Rossetti has written to me :

* The so-called ruggedness depends I fancy to some
extent upon the fact that C[hristina] was extremely prone
to writing (and this was of course intentional — and very
gracefully managed) lines differing in length : a tendency
originating possibly in the structure of the Italian
** canzone." '

As an argument against the value of Christina
Rossctti's work, both in verse and in prose, it may be

334 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

urged (and I have heard it so urged) that her narrowness
of range, and her tendency to dwell too much on one set
of emotions, make her work monotonous. In such a con-
tention there is a * residuum of truth.' And, if for this
reason alone, her work is the less likely ever to become
popular, as a whole, in the strict sense. . Nevertheless,
we must remember that there is in our literature a group
of writers of whom, in recent times, she is perhaps the
chief representative, — writers who unburden their fuU
hearts without thought of artifice, or of artistic restraint,
and wlio are content if a portion of their work is read,
dwells in the memory, or is looked at again in quiet hours.
Such writers do not always concern themselves with the
general effect of their work considered in its entirety.

It has been said that in giving so much time,
thought, and labour to religious poems, and to devo-
tional and other prose work, she impaired her poetic
gift. Our opinion as to the importance of this remark
must depend mainly on the view we take as to what
constitutes poetry, and as to what is its chief value. Is it
to be chiefly valued as an exhibition of metrical high Art
or for its message ? Is an author to be judged by the
value of his message, and not merely by the form in
which he expresses it ? Is he to feel that the responsi-
bility of the life of letters is grave, and that by his influ-
ence on others his place will finally be determined ? If
we hold the message to be the really important thing —
so important, indeed, that if the writer thinks he can best
deliver that message in prose it is his duty to write prose
— then we must hold her blameless in any case. If, on
the contrary, we hold the message unimportant, then
we must condemn her if it be true, as perhaps it is, that
she lost some of her poetic faculty by writing so much

CRITICAL SURVEY — TEACHING IN POETRY 335

devotional matter. But, even if such be our opinion,
we cannot fail to admire the noble purposes of her
sacred lyrics, or the fine qualities of her sacred prose.

Elsewhere in this monograph I have made allusions
to, or suggested the comparison of her work with that of
various other poets of religion. But nevertheless it may
not be. out of place at this point to make some further
observations on this topic. She was as conscious of the
teaching power in poetry, and believed as strongly in it,
as the most unimaginative verse writer. But her natural
aptitude for symbolism and her large poetic vocabulary
prevented her from ever becoming prosaic — a notable
thing to say when we remember that some of our finest
English poets have often been prosaic. I do not find
in her religious verse the influence of authors like
\.jJ2^S>\ ; Cowper and Newton, though in some degree she was
at one with them in having a didactic aim ; but to
Keble, to Faber, and particularly to Newman, she had,
in my judgment, much poetic kinship, though Mr. W. M.
Rossetti informs me that * she thought nothing of Keble
as a poet'

Her father's volume of sacred verse, * L'Arpa
Evangelica,* given to the world, it will be recollected,
when he was nearing the close of his striking career, had a
marked effect upon her. Such poems as * U Annunzia-
zione * and * La Pentecoste * were certain to touch and
unconsciously shape her thoughts. Of both Keats and
Shelley she was very fond. And if, unlike most of
our sacred poets, she was always poetic, it was in a
large measure because she infused into sacred themes
the same passionate intensity, the same beauty
both of language and of substance, which these poets
used in their most lofty secular verse.

■^

36 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

In virtue of the stately, the dignified prose sequences
in * The Face of the Deep/ which I have ventured to call
litanies, I claim for Christina Rossetti a high place
among the very few great masters of that rare kind of
English prose, which, while distinct from poetry, yet
seems to stand on its threshold.

Without possessing profound erudition she had
sufficient of the learning of fact for the purposes of those
of her books which she consecrated absolutely to religioa
Moreover what she lacked in dry-as-dust erudition was far
more than made up by an exceptional, an almost unsur-
passed gift of insight into the inner meaning of passages.
This was partly, no doubt, the result of her poetic
intuition, and this feature makes her work of this kind
a new glorj' of Protestant theology.

I should have deemed that her sacred prose gave
evidence of her deep study of seventeenth century
religious writers, and that her study of volumes like
the prose treatise called * The Mount of Olives,' by the
poet best known under the name of Henry Vaughan,
the Silurist, had noticeably done much to form her style,
had not her younger brother, after reading over my
manuscript, written to me :

'"Deep study of 17th century religious writers" —
Did she study them at all ? Jeremy Taylor was a
great favourite with our mother, and I suppose C[hristina]
had some knowledge of him — ^Vaughan's " Mount of
Olives " was I fancy absolutely unknown to her — and I
question whether she can have read a line of V[aughan]'s
•hoetry earlier than 1875 or so.*

That an author's personality is generally to be traced
in his or her work has so frequently been remarked that
the remark has become a truism. But it is especially

CRITICAL SURVEY — 'HER NOBLEST BOOKS* 337

applicable to Christina Rossetti^ and, as has been
indicated before, nowhere in her writings arc personal
touches more evident than in * Time Flies ' and in * The
Face of the Deep/ Perhaps in * The Face of the Deep '
this arose from the fact that she regarded it as her
last book, and, indeed, spoke of it as such. As we
grow in years we become usually more and more
personal in our writings. And properly so, for in this
way our experience is placed at the service of others.

Like us all, Christina Rossetti had her sorrows,
some of them deep and life-long, and yet she was a
fortunate woman. She was fortunate in her parents ;
she was fortunate in her early surroundings ; she
was fortunate, as she advanced in life, in the other
members of her family ; and when she came to die she
was fortunate in the warm praise of herself and of her
work which was unanimously expressed.

Mr. Aubrey de Vere, in the last of his valuable
* Essays Chiefly on Poetry/ the essay entitled * Recol-
lections of Wordsworth,' says of Wordsworth that he

* frequently spoke of death as if it were the taking of a
new degree in the University of Life. " I should like," he
remarked to a young lady, " to visit Italy again before
I move to another placet — " '

a striking utterance, which shows the poet's settled
conviction as to the certainty of a future life. Some
such feeling was perhaps the cause of the placidity
apparent in Christina Rossetti's work — a placidity which
was one, though not of course the only one of the
great qualities that characterised it. We must also
remember, as * The Daily News * well remarked a day or
two after her death, 'Her noblest books were those
books without words that she lived.' Nor must we

z

338 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

forget that Christina Rossetti — ^whether we look to the
quality or to the quantity of her poetry of devotion — was
pre-eminent among the illustrious English poets who
have enriched the literature of Christian teaching by
their genius. As long as Christianity remains the most
vital force in the lives of millions of English-speaking
people, the memory of that poet of their faith who gavt
them such a poem as ' Passing away, saith the worid
passing away,' or 'Paradise,' with its exquisite las
stanza, the very quintessence of Christian expectation
— who gave them that beautiful hymn, part of which,
beginning * The Porter watches at the gate,' was sung
so fittingly at her funeral service — who gave them the
perfect lines, beginning * Thy lovely saints do bring
Thee love ' — will be cherished and honoured.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

By J. P. Anderson, British Museum

CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGAZINES ETC

ATHENiEUM. Poem. 'Death's Chill Between.' Oct 14, 1848,
p. 1,032. Reprinted in vol. i. of Beautiful Poetry^ 1853,
p. 248.

Poem. « Heart's Chill Between.* Oct. 21, 1848, p. 1,056.

Poem. 'Mirrors of Life and Death.' March 17, 1877. Re-
printed in A Pageant^ and oth^ Poems ^ 1881, p. 25.

Poem. • An October Garden.' Oct 27, 1877. Reprinted in
A Pageant^ and other Poems^ 1 881, p. 103.

Sonnet 'Resurgam.' Jan. 28, 1882, p. 124. Reprinted in
PoemSy 1 89 1, p. 378.

Poem. 'Birchington Churchyard.' April 29, 1882, p. 538.
Reprinted in Poems, 1891, p. 318.

Poem. 'Michael F. M. Rossetti.' Feb. 17, 1883, p. 214.
Reprinted in New Poems, p. 181.

PoenL 'Cardinal Newman.' Aug. 16, 1890, p. 225. Re-
printed in New Poems, p. 261.
The Germ. Poem. 'Dream Land.' By Ellen AUeyn, No. i.
Jan. 1850^ p. 2a Reprinted in Goblin Market, and other
Poems, 1862, p. 33.

Poem. 'An End.' By Ellen Alleyn. No. i. Jan. 1850, p. 48.
Reprinted in NightingcUe Valley, edited by William Ailing-
ham, 1859, and in Goblin Market, and other Poems, 1862,
p. 6a

Poem. 'A Pause of Thought.' By Ellen Alleyn. No. ii.Feb.
1850, p. 57. Reprinted in Goblin Market, arid other Poems,
1862, p. 94.

Song. By Ellen Alleyn. No. ii. Feb. 1850, p. 64. Reprinted
in Goblin Market, and other Poems, 1862, p. 65.

Poem. 'A Testimony.' By Ellen Alleyn. No, ii. Feb. 1850,
p. 73. Reprinted in Goblin Market, and other Poems, 1862,
p. i6a

z 2

340 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Poem. * Repining.' By Ellen Alleyn. No. iii. March i8s<v
p. III. Reprinted in New Poems^ p. 4.

Poem. 'Sweet Death.' By Ellen Alleyn. No. iii. March
1 8 50, p. 117. Repri nted in Goblin Market, and other Poemsy
1862, p. 153.
The Bouquet Culled from Marylebone Gardens. Poem
*Versi' (Italian). June 185 1 to Jan. 1852, p. 175. Re-
printed in New Poemsy p. 269.

Poem. ' L'Incognita ' (Italian). June 185 1 to Jan. 1852,
p. 216. Reprinted in New Poems, p. 270.

* Corrispondenza Famigliare.' Jan. to July 1852, pp. 120, 12I1
218, 219 ; July to Dec. 1852, pp. 14, 15, 55-57.
Aiken's Year (probably contributed to). Poem. * Behold 1
Stand at the Door and Knock.' 1852-54. Reprinted in
New Poems, 1896, p. 198. {See Notes by W. M. Rossctti
at p. 389 of New Poems,)
Memoirs of Mallet du Pan. Translated by Mr. W. M.
Rossetti and Mr. Benjamin H. Paul. Part of the translation
was executed by Christina Rossetti 'towards 1855.'
Imperial Dictionary of Biography (1857-63). Edited by
Dr. Waller. Contains many articles by Christina Rossetti
on Italian writers and other celebrities.
The Crayon (New York). * The Lost Titian.' (This talc ap-
peared in The Crayon about 1856.) Reprinted in Common-
place, and other Short Stories, 1870, pp. 145-163.
Once a Week. Poem. < Maude Clare.' Vol. i. Nov. 5, 1859,
pp. 381, 382. Reprinted in Goblin Market, and other Poems,
1862, p. 76.
Macmillan's Magazine. Poem. * Up-hill.' Vol. iii. Feb. 1861
p. 325. Reprinted in Goblin Market, and other Poems, Ml
p. 128.

Poem. * A Birthday.' Vol. iii. April 186 1, p. 498. Reprinted
in Goblin Market, and other Poems, 1862, p. 56.

Poem. *An Apple-Gathering.' Vol. iv. Aug. 1861, pi 329.
Reprinted in Goblin Market, and other Poems, 1862, p. T^

Poem. * Light Love.' Vol. vii. Feb. 1863, p. 287. Reprinted
in The Princes Progress, and other Poems, 1866, p. 92.

Poem. * The Bourne.' Vol. vii. March 1863, p. 382. Reprinted
in The Princes Progress, and other Poems, 1866, p. 107.

Poem. * The Fairy Prince who Arrived too Late.' Vol. viii.
May 1863, p. 36.

Poem. *A Bird's-eye View.' Vol. viii. July 1863, p. 207.
Reprinted in The Princes Progress, and other Poems, 1866,
p. 86.

VK

BIBLIOGRAPHY 34 1

Poem. * The Queen of Hearts.' Vol. viii. Oct. 1863, p. 457.

Reprinted in The Princes Progress^ and other PoemSy 1866,

p. 82.
Poem. * One Day.' VoL ix. Dec. 1863, p. 159. Reprinted

in The Princis Progress^ and other Poems ^ 1866, p. 84.
Poem. ' Sit Down in the Lowest Room.' Vol. ix. March 1864,

pp. 436-439. Reprinted in Goblin Market^ The Princes

Progress^ and other Poems, 1875, p. 107.
Poem. 'My Friend.' Vol. xi. Dec. 1864, p. 155. Reprinted

in Goblin Market, The Princess Progress, and other Poems,

18751 P- 175.

Poem. ' Spring Fancies.' Vol. xi. April 1865, p. 460. Re-
printed in The Princes Progress, and other Poems, 1866,
p. 52, under the title of * Spring Quiet.'

Poem. ' Last Night.' Vol. xii. May 1865, p. 48. Reprinted
in New Poems, 1896.

Poem. 'Consider.' Vol. xiii. Jan. 1866, p. 232. Reprinted
in Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and other Poems,

18751 P- 234.

Poem. 'Helen Grey.' Vol. xiii. March 1866, p. 375. Re-
printed in New Poems, p. 138.

Poem. ' By the Waters of Babylon.' Vol. xiv. Oct. 1866, pp.
424-426. Reprinted in Goblin Market, The Princes Pro-
gress, and other Poems, 1875, p. 238.

Poem. ' Seasons.' Vol. xv. Dec. 1866, pp. 168, 169. Reprinted
in New Poems, p. 71.

Poem. * Mother Country.' Vol. xvii. March 1868, pp. 403,
404. Reprinted in Goblin Market, The Princes Progress,
and other Poems, 1875, p. 257.

Poem. 'A Smile and a Sigh.' Vol. xviii. May 1868, p. 86.
Reprinted in Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and
other Poems, 1875, p. 184.

Poem. 'Dead Hope.' Vol. xviii. May 1868, p. 86. Reprinted
in Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and other Poems,

1875, P- '22.

Poem. ' Autumn Violets.' Vol xix. Nov. 1868, p. 84. Re-
printed in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and other
Poems, 1875, P' 88.

Poem. 'They desire a better Country.' Vol. xix. March 1869,
pp. 422, 423. Reprinted in Goblin Market, The Prince's
Progress, and other Poems, 1875, P* 95'

Poem. ' A Wintry Sonnet.' Vol. xlvii. April 1883, p. 498.
Reprinted in Poems, 1891, p. 370.
Poems : An Offering to Lancashire. Edited by Isa Craig, 1863.

342 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Poem. 'A Royal Princess/ pp. 2-10. Reprinted in The
Princes Progress y and other Poems ^ 1866, p. 123.
A Welcome : Original contributions in poetry and prose. London,
1863. Poem. *• Dream- Love/ pp. 63-66. Reprinted in The
Princes Progress^ and other Poems, 1866, p. 59.
Lyra Eucharistica. Edited by Rev. O. Shipley, 1863. Poem.
* The Offering of the New Law, the One Oblation once
Offered,' p. 48. Reprinted in New Poetns, p. 247.
Poem. * Conference between Christ, the Saints and the Soul,
p. 167. Reprinted in Goblin Market, The Princes Pro-
gress, and other Poems, p. 260, under the title of ' I will lift
up mine eyes unto the Hills.'
Lyra Eucharistica. Second edition. Edited by Rev. O.
Shipley, 1864. Poem. 'Come unto Me,' p^ 5. Reprinted
in New Poems, p. 255.
Poem. * Jesus, do I love Thee,' p. 355.
Lyra Messianica. Edited by Rev. O. Shipley, 1864. Poem
' I know you not,' p. 28. Reprinted in New Poems, p. 258.
Poem. ' Before the paling of the Stars,' p. 63. Reprinted

in New Poems, p. 244.
Poem. 'Good Friday,' p. 236. Reprinted in The Princes

Progress, and other Poems, 1866, p. 214.
Poem. * Easter Even,' p. 25 1. Reprinted in New Poems, p. 245.
Lyra Messianica, 1865. Poem. • Within the Veil' Reprinted
in New Poems, p. 250.
Poem. ' Paradise in a Symbol.'
Poem. ' Paradise in a Dream.'
Lyra Mystica. Edited by Rev. O. Shipley, 1865. Poem. * After
this the Judgment,' p. 33. Reprinted in The Princes Pro-
gress, and other Poems, 1866, p. 210.
Poem. * Martyr's Song,' p. 427. Reprinted in The Princes
Progress, and other Poems, 1866, p. 206.
The Shilling Magazine. Poem. * Amor Mundi.' With a
drawing by F. Sandys. Vol. i. 1865, p. 193. Reprinted in
Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and other Poems,
1875, P- 192.
The Argosy. * Hero : a Metamorphosis.' Vol. i. Jan. 1866, pp.
156-165. Reprinted in Commonplace, and other Short
Stories, 1870, pp. 183-2 11.
Poem. * Who shall deliver Me?' Vol. i. Feb. 1866, p. 288.
Reprinted in Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and
other Poems, 1875, P* 263.
Poem. * If (with an illustration by F. A. Sandys). Vol. i.
March 1866, p. 336. Reprinted in New Poems, p. 145.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 343

Poem. * Twilight Night.' Vol v. Jan. 1868, p. 103. Reprinted
in Goblin Market, The Princess Progress, and other Poems,
1875, p. 180.

Two Sonnets. I. 'Venus's Looking Glass.' II. *Love Lies
Bleeding.' Vol.xv. Jan. 1873, p. 31. Reprinted in 6^^^//>/
Market, The Princes Progress, and other Poems, 1875,
p. 156.

Poem. * A Dirge.' Vol. xvii. Jan. 1874, P- 25. Reprinted in
Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and other Poems,

1875, p. 89-
Poem. * A Bride Song.' Vol. xix. Jan. 1875, P- 25. Reprinted

in Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and other Poems,

1875, p. 102.
Churchman's Shilling Magazine. ' The Waves of this Trouble-
some World : a Tale of Hastings Ten Years Ago.* Vol. i.

1867, pp. 182-193, 291-304. Reprinted in Commonplace,

and other Short Stories, 1870, pp. 271-329.
Story. *Some Pros and Cons about Pews.' Vol. i. 1867,

pp. 496-500. Reprinted in Commonplace, and other Short

Stories, 1870, pp. 257-267.
Essay. * Dante, an English Classic' Vol. ii. 1867, pp. 200-205.
Story. *A Safe Investment.' Vol. ii. 1867, pp. 287-292.

Reprinted in Commonplace, and other Short Stories, 1870,

pp. 241-253.
ScRiBNER's Monthly. (Century.) Poem. *A Christmas

Carol.' Vol. iii. Jan. 1872, p. 278. Reprinted in Goblin

Market, The Prince's Progress, and other Poems, 1875

p. 221.
Poem. * Days of Vanity.' Vol. v. Nov. 1872, p. 21. Reprinted

in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and other Poems,

1875, p. 68.
Poem. * A Bird Song.' Vol. v. Jan. 1873, P- 336. Reprinted in

Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and other Poems ^

1875, P- 1S4
The Century. Essay. * Dante. The Poet illustrated out of

the Poem.' Feb. 1884, PP- 566-573.
Poem. * One Sea-side Grave.' May 1884, p. 134. Reprinted

in Poems, 1891, p. 339.
Picture Posies, poems chiefly by livmg authors, 1874. Poem.

*An English Drawing-room,' p. 50. Reprinted under the

title of *Enrica,' 1865, in Goblin Market, The Prince's

Progress, and other Poems, 1^7$, ,

Poem. *By the Sea,' p. 59. Reprinted in Goblin Market,

The Prince's Progress, and other Poems, 1875, p. 59.

344 CHRisnxA rossetti

DUBLZV Ukiteksitt 3lAG\zncE, Poem. ^Ycta Little Whik.*
VoL L N^^ 187S. p. IQ4. Reprinted in A PmgemU^ ami
ciktrPcems^ 1S81, p.42.
A MiLSOTE OF Poets. Bosl 1S7R. Poem. ^Hosband and

^Ife,* ppL 42-44. Reprinted in \ar P§ttms^ p. 1 54.
New A3a) Oizi. Edited by Rer. C GatdL 'A Hannoay on

Firs: Corindiians,' xiiL V6L viL Feb. 1879. ppL 34-59.
The Children's H^-ics Booil Compiled dueflyby Mis. Carey
Brock 1881 . Poem. * Tboa art tbe same, and Thy years
shall not faiL* p. 26a Reprinted in Srac Pcewis, p. 260.
S03ncET5 or Three CexttrieSl Edited bv T. HaD Caine,
1882. Sonnet. •To-days Borden,' p. 19a Reprinted in
Parms. iSqi, p. 3Sa
Daii'X of Day. •Tme in tbe Main.' Two Sketches. May i,
1S82, pp. 57-59. and Jane i. 18S2, pp. 69-7a
Poems. '.Ash Wednesday.' • LenL' Reprinted from Verses

1893, ^^^ 1^94. p. 40^
Cextury Guild Hobfy Horse. Poem. -A Christmas CaroL*
VoL iL 1S87. p. I. Reprinted in Poems 1891, p. 429, and
in .V«r Poewu^ 1896. p. 261.
Poem. *.\ Hope Carol. ' VoL :iL 1S88, p. 41. Reprinted in

Poewu. 1891, p. 427.
Poem. * There is a Boddis^ Morrow in MidnighL' VoL iv.
1S89, p. Si. Reprinted in Poems^ 1S91, p. 382.
Atalaxta. Poem. * Yea I ha\^ a Goodly Heritage.' Oct. iS9o»

p. 3. Reprinted in A>f Poems^ p. 262.
Ma«.azixe of Art. Poem. *Ar. Echo from Wlllowurood.'
Drawir..; by C. K:cke::5- Vol. .v:::. SepL 1S90, pi. 3S5.
Reprint ec .rr Sru- Pih"-:.-, rv 164.
Poem. ' The Wav of the Worid." With an illustration bv
W. E. F. Britter.. July iSc^ p. 30.:. Reprinted in AVu'
P^ems, pu :53-
LiTER-\RV Opinion. Foeni. * A Death of a First-borp..* Jan. 14,
1S92. Feb. 1^92, p. 22". Reprinted in AVi. Pcx'ms. p. 263.
Poem. ' Fair.t, yet Pursuir.i;." Vol. ::. iSo2,p, 67. Reprinted

in AVa- Fcc^:s, r». 264.
Essay. • The House of Dar.te Gabri.cl Rossetti. With a sketch
by Miss ?»!arj:aret Thon^as. Vol ::. iScj2, pp. 127-129.
I>\NTE Gabriel Rossetti. his Family Letters, 1S95.
\*erse. ' The Chinanvar..' \'ol. i. rv "O.
Sonnet- * The P. R. B.' \'ol. :. ;:\- i ;S.

Poen:. * The Eleventh Hour* appc.ired .n son^.e Magazine ;
sff Mr. W. M. Rossetti's r.otes to AIt. /".c— ;a p. 3S^^^. Re-
printed 'n Ac's' Pc^rr.s, P- 2 1 4.

■'"«-

BIBLIOGRAPHY 345

Poem. * A Visitor from the South.' Illustrated by Alfred Boyd
Houghton.

MUSICAL SETTINGS

^ Goblin Market/ as a cantata, by £. Aguilar.

*A11 Thy works praise Thee, O Lord. A Processional of

Creation,' Selected stanzas from. Adapted by the Rev. J. J.

Glendinning Nash, and set to music by Mr. Frank T. Lowden.

Performed for the first time at Christ Church, Wobum

Square, London, October 21st, 1897.
* Songs in a Cornfield,' as a cantata, by Sir G. A. Macfarren.
Numerous settings by Mary Grant Carmichael and other

composers.

WORKS

To my Mother on the Anniversary of her birth, April 27, 1842.

(Privately printed at G. Polidori's, London, 1842) s. sh. 8vo.

Christina Rossetti's first verses. Included in the volume of

* Verses,' 1847.
Verses by Christina G. Rossetti. Dedicated to her mother.

Privately printed at G. Polidori's, No. 15, Park Village East,

Regent's Park, London, 1847, i2mo.

Printed by her maternal grandfather, G. Polidori.
Goblin Market, and other Poems. With two designs by D. G.

Rossetti. Macmillan & Co. Cambridge, 1862, 192 pages, 8vo.

Bound in dark blue cloth.
Goblin Market, and other Poems. Second edition. Macmillan

& Co. Cambridge, 1865, i2mo.
The Prince's Progress, and other Poems. With two designs by

D. G. Rossetti. Macmillan & Co. London, 1866, 8vo. Bound

in green cloth.
Poems. Roberts Bros. Boston, 1866, i6mo.
Poems. New edition enlarged. Roberts Bros. Boston, 1876, i6mo.
Outlines for illuminating. * Consider.' A Poem. (Designed by
A. Donlevy.) A. D. F. Randolph & Co., New York, 1866, obi. 4to.
II Mercato de* Folletti ('Goblin Market'); poema tradotto in

Italiano da T. P. Rossetti. Firenze, 1867, 8vo.
Commonplace, and other Short Stories. F. S. Ellis, London,

1870, 8vo.
Commonplace, and other Short Stories. Roberts Bros. Boston,

1870, 8vo.
Sing-Song, a nursery rhyme book. With 120 illustrations by

Arthur Hughes, engraved by the Brothers DalzieL George

Routledge and Sons, London, 1872, 8vo.
Sing-Song. Roberts Bros. Boston, 1872, 8vo.

346 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Sing-Song. Another edition. George Routledge and Sons,

London, 1878, i6mo.
Sing-Song. Another edition. Macmillan & Co. London, 1893,

8vo.
Annus Domini, a prayer for each day of the year, founded on a

text of Holy Scripture. (Edited by [the Rev.] H, W. Burrows,)

James Parker & Co. London, 1874, 32mo.
Annus Domini. Roberts Bros. Boston, n.d. i8mo.
Speaking Likenesses. With pictures thereof by Arthur Hughes.

Macmillan & Co. London, 1874, 8vo.
Speaking Likenesses. Roberts Bros. Boston, 1874, i2mo.
Goblin Market, The Princess Progress, and other Poems, With

four designs by D. G. Rossetti. New edition. Macmillan &

Co., London, 1S75, ^^o* Reprinted 1879, i^^^ ^^^'
Seek and Find. A double series of short studies of the Bene-

dicite. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London,

1879, 8vo.
A Pageant, and other Poems. Macmillan & Co. London, 1881.

8vo.
Called to be Saints : the Minor Festivals devotionally studied.

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1881,

8vo. Passages from the Bible relating to the Saints, uith

meditations.
Poems. Roberts Bros. Boston, 1882, 8vo.'

The frontispiece is the portrait of Christina G, Rossetti, from

the original drawing by Dante G, Rossetti in the possession of

Mr. W. M. Rossetti.
Letter and Spirit, Notes on the Commandments. Society for

Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1883, 8vo.
Time Flies : a reading Diary. Society for Promoting Christian

Knowledge, London, 1885, 8vo.
Time Flies. Roberts Bros. Boston, 1886, i2mo.
Poems. (With four designs by D. G. Rossetti.) New and enlarged

edition. Macmillan & Co. London, October 1890, 8vo. Re-
printed December 1890, February and August 1891, 1892, 1894,

1895, ^896.
The Face of the Deep : a devotional commentary on the Apoc-
alypse. (With the Text.) Society for Promoting Christian

Knowledge, London, 1892, 8vo.
The Face of the Deep. E. and J. B. Young & Co. New York,

1892, 8vo.
Goblin Market. Illustrated by Laurence Housman, Macmillan,

& Co. London, 1893, 8vo. One hundred and sixty copies of a

large paper edition were printed.
Verses. Reprinted from * Called to be Saints,' *Time Flies,' and

BIBLIOGRAPHY 347

*The Face of the Deep.' Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, London, 1893, 8vo.

New Poems, by Christina Rossetti hitherto unpublished or uncol-
lected. Edited by William Michael Rossetti. MacmiUan & Co.
London and New York, 1896, 8vo.

The Rossetti Birthday Book. Edited by Olivia Rossetti. Macmillan
& Co. London and New York, 1896, i6mo.

Maude. With an introduction by W, M. Rossetti. James Bowden,
London, 1897, 8vo.

ANA

Eyles, F. A. H. Popular Poets of the Period. London, 1889, 8vo.

* Miss Christina G. Rossetti.' By John Walker, pp. 234-24a
(Selections from her poems, with a notice.)

Forman, H. Buxton. Our Living Poets ; an Essay in Criticism.
London, 1871, 8vo.

* Christina Gabriela Rossetti,' pp. 231-253.

Article in Celebrities of the Century, edited by Lloyd C. San-
ders, on Christina Rossetti.

Gamett, Richard. Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XLIX.
Article on Christina Rossetti.

Gilchrist, H. Harlakenden. Anne Gilchrist, Her Life and Writings.
London, 1887, 8vo. Numerous references to Christina Rossetti.

Gosse, Edmund. Critical Kit- Kats. London, 1896, 8vo. 'Christina
Rossetti,' pp. 133-162.

A Short History of Modem English Literature, London,

1898, 8vo.

* Christina Rossetti,' pp. 380-382.

Hake, Dr. Gordon. Memories of Eighty Years. London, 1892,

8vo. Contains references to Christina Rossetti.
Hill, George Birkbeck. Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to

William Allingham 1854-1870, London, 1897, 8vo. ; New York,

1898 (before their publication in book form a portion of these

letters appeared in The Atlantic Monthly May- August 1897).

Contains references to Christina Rossetti.
Hueffer, Ford M. Ford Madox Brown ; a Record of his Life and

Work. London, 1896, 8vo. Contains several references to

Christina Rossetti.
'M.' *The Athenaeum ' August 7, 1897. Article entitled * A Poetic

Trio,' containing a letter by Christina Rossetti, pp. I93-I94»
Miles, Alfred H. The Poets and the Poetry of the Century, vol. vii.

entitled * Joanna Baillie to Mathilde Blind,' London, 1893, ^vo.

Christina G. Rossetti. By Arthur Symons, with selections

from her poetical works, pp. 417-448.
Nash, Rev. J. J. Glendinning. A memorial sermon preached at

348 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Christ Church, Wobum Square, for the late Christina Georgina

Rossetti. London, 1895, 8vo.
Noble, James Ashcroft Impressions and Memories. London,

1895, 8vo. ; ' The Burden of Christina Rossetti,* pp. 55—64.
Proctor, Ellen A. A Brief Memoir of Christina G. Rossetti. With

a preface by W. M. Rossetti. London, 1895, 8vo.
Robertson, Eric. S. English Poetesses. London, 1883, Svo.

' Christina Rossetti,' pp. 338-348.
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, his Family Letters. With a memoir by

William Michael Rossetti. 2 vols. London, 1895, 8vo.

Contains numerous references to Christina Rossetti, with a

portrait painted by Dante G. Rossetti, and several letters to her.
Rossetti, William M. Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and

Writer. London, 1889, 8 vo.

Numerous references to Christina Rossetti.
Rossetti, William M. Swinburne's Poems and Ballads. A Criti-
cism. London, 1866, 8vo.

Contains references to Christina Rossetti.
— * Chambers's Encyclopedia.' Article, * Christina G. Rossetti.*

London, 1895, vol. viii., p. 815.
Scott, William Bell. Autobiographical Notes of the Life of William

Bell Scott. Edited by William Minto. London, 1892, 8vo.

Contains references to Christina Rossetti.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence. Victorian Poets. London, 1887, 8vo.

' Christina Rossetti,' pp. 280, 443.
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. A Midsummer Holiday and other

Poems. London, 1884, Svo. ' A Ballad of Appeal to Christina

G. Rossetti,' p. 112.
*A Century of Roundels,' London, 1883, 8vo. 'Dedication

to Christina Rossetti.'
Symons, Arthur. 'Studies in Two Literatures.' London, 1897,

8vo. Essay on Christina Rossetti, pp. 135-149.
Taylor, Bayard. Critical Essays and Literary Notes. New York,

1880, 8vo. * Christina Rossetti,' pp. 330-332.
Walker, Hugh. The Age of Tennyson, London, 1897. * Christina

Rossetti,' pp. 244-246.
Wood, Esther. Dante Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement.

London, 1894, 8vo. References to Christina Rossetti.

REVIEWS, CRITICISMS, MEMORIAL POEMS, ETC

Rossetti, Christina G,—TAe Catholic Worlds by F. A. Rudd, vol. iv.
1867, pp. 839-846. Tinslefs MagazirUy vol. v., 1869, pp. 59-67.
The Fortnightly Review^ by William Sharp, vol. xxxix. N.S.,

BIBLIOGRAPHY 349

1886, pp. 427-429; same article, The Eclectic Magazine^ vol.
cvi., pp. 599, 600, and LitteWs Living Age^ vol. clxix., pp. 169,
170. The London Quarterly Review^ by Arthur Symons, July

1887, pp. 338-350. Womatis World (with portrait), by Amy
Levy, 1888, pp. 1 78- 1 8a The Sun, by Elspeth H. Bania, June
1890, pp. 615-618. Literary Opinion (with portrait), by James
Ashcroft Noble, Dec. 1891, pp. 155-157. The Century (mth
portrait), by Edmund Gosse, vol. xlvi., 1893, pp. 211-217.
The National Review, by A. C. Benson, Feb. 1895, PP- 753~
763. The AthencBum, by Theodore Watts [Dunton], Jan. 5,
1895, pp. 16-18. The Academy, Jan. 5, 1895, P* i^- ^^
Saturday Review, by Arthur Symons, Jan. 5, 1895, PP* 5» 6'
The Dial (Chicago), Jan, 16, 1895, PP* 37-39' ^^ New Review,
by Alice Meynell, Feb. 1895, pp. 201-206. The Bookman (with
portrait), by Katherine Tynan (Mrs. Hinkson), Feb. 1895,
pp. 141, 142. CasselPs Family Magazine (with portrait), by
Alexander H. Japp, Feb. 1895, p. 227. Great Thoughts {Wxih.
portrait), by Frances E. Ashwell, Feb. 2, 1895, PP* 288-290.
The Leisure /four (with portrait), by Mrs. Watson, Feb. 1895,
pp. 245-248. The Author, by Mackenzie Bell, March 1895,
pp. 269, 270. The Primitive Methodist Quarterly Review, by
M. Johnson, vol. xxxvii., 1895, pp. 469-481. Good Words,
by Grace Gilchrist, Dec. 1896, pp. 822-826.

Called to be Saints. The Accuiemy, by G. A. Simcox, Nov. 5,
1 881, p. 341.

Character Sketch of. The Young Woman (illustrated with
portraits, &c.), by Sarah A. Tooley, Nov. 1894, pp. 37-44. By
an error the portrait at p. 43 represents Mrs. W. M. Rossetti,^
not Christina Rossetti.

Child's Recollections of Rossetti, A. The New Remew, by
Lily Hall Caine (Mrs. Day). Sep. 1894, pp. 246-255. Con-
tains references to Christina Rossetti.
Commonplace, and other Short Stories. The Athenceum, June 4,

1870, pp. 734, 735*

Goblin Market, and other Poems. The Eclectic Review, vol. ii.
N.S., 1862, pp. 493-499 ; same article, LittelPs Uving Age,
vol. Ixxiv., pp. 147-150. Mctcmillaris Magazine, by Mrs. C.
E. Norton, vol. viii., 1863, pp. 40X-404 ; same article, LittelPs
Living Age, vol. Ixxix., pp. 126-129. The Athenceum, April 26,

1862, pp. 557, 558*

I n Memoriam ( Poem). The Manchester Quarterly, by Rowland

Thirlmere, [Mr. John Walker], Jan. 1896, pp. 39-45.

Letter and Spirit. The Academy, by G. A. Simcox, June 9,

1883, pp. 395, 396-

350 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Rossetti, Christina G. Letters of D. G. Rossetti. Tk^ ^Uamiic
Monthly^ May-Aug. 1896, by George B. HilL

— New Poems, 1896. The Athencmm^ Feb. 15, 1896, ppu 207-
209. The Saturday Review^ Feb. 22, 1896, pp. I94>i97. Tike
Spectator^ Feb. 29, 1896^ pp. 509^ 31a Poet-hre^ Marchy 1896,
pp. X49i 15a The Guardian^ March 18, 1896, p. 433. The
Atlantic Monthly^ April, 1896, pp. 570^ $71. The Acadeney^ by
Lionel Johnson, July 25, 1896, pp. yy^so.

— New Year's Eve, A. The Nineteenth Century^ by Alg^emoo
Charles Swinburne, Feb. 1895, PP* 3^79 3^-

-^ Pageant and other Poems, A. The Academy ^ by T. Hall Caine,
Aug. 27, 1881, p. 152. The Atkenaum^ by Theodore Watts
[Dunton], Sep. xo, x88i, pp. 327, 328; same article^ The
Eclectic Magazine^ vol. xxxiv. N.S., pp. 708-7x2.

— Poems of. The Saturday RevieWy June 23, 1866, pp. 761, 762 ;
same article, The Eclectic Magazine^ vc^. iv. N.S., 1866, pp.
322-325. The Spectator, Sep. i, 1866, pp. 974, 975. TTk^
Catholic World, vol. xxiv., X877, PP* 122-129. The Nation^ by
J. R. Dennett, vol. iii., 1866, pp. 47, 48. The London Quarterfy
Review, vol. Ixviii., 1887, pp. 338-350, The Academy, by
Richard Le Gallienne, Feb. 7, 1891, pp. 130, 131.

— Poetry of. The Bookman (with portrait), by Katherine Tynan
(Mrs. Hinkson,) Dec. 1893, pp. 78, 79. The Monthly Packet^
by C. R. Coleridge, March, 1895, pp. 276-282. The West-
minster Remew, by Alice Law, April, 1895, PP- 444-453-

— Prince's Progress, and other Poems, The, The Athenceum^
June 23, x866, pp. 824, 825.

— Reminiscences of. The Nineteenth Century, by Theodore
Watts [Dunton], Feb. 1895, PP- 355-366.

— The Rossettis. The London Quctrterly Review, Oct. 1896, pp.

1-16.

— Short Tales of. The Spectator, Oct 29, 1870^ pp. 1292, 1293.

— Sing-Song. The Athenceum, Jan. 6, 1872, p. xx ; The Academy,
by Sidney Colvin, Jan. 15, X872, pp. 23, 24.

— Some Reminiscences of. The Atlantic Monthly, by William
Sharp, June, 1895, PP- 736-749 ; The Bookman, by Katherine
Tynan (Mrs. Hinkson), Feb. 1895, pp. X41, 142.

— To. (Verse), Good Words, by Dora Green well, vol. xvii. 1876,
p. 824. The Literary World, by Mackenzie Bell, Jan. 4, 1895,
p. 21. The Academy, by Michael Field, April 4, 1896, p. 284.

— * Two Christmastides,* The Athenceum, by Theodore Watts-
Dunton, Jan. 12, 1895, p. 49.

— Verses (1893). '^^ Athenceum, Dec. 16, 1893, pp. 842, 843.

The Sunday at Home (with portrait), by Lily Watson, May
1894, pp. 425-428.

LIST OF PORTRAITS 35 1

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS

Verses 1847

Goblin Market and other Poems .... 1862

The Princess Progress and other Poems , 1866

Commonplace, and other Short Stories . . . 1870

Sing-Song 1872

Annus Domini 1874

Speaking Likenesses 1874

Seek and Find 1879

A Pageant and other Poems 1881

Called to be Saints i88i

Letter and Spirit 1883

Time Flies ...:.... 1885
Poems. New and enlarged edition . . .1891

The Face of the Deep 1 892

Verses 1893

New Poems Hitherto Unpublished or Uncollected. 1896
Maude 1897

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PORTRAITS,
PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC.

By Mackenzie Bell

Portrait (watercolour) by Filippo Pistrucci, 1838. Reproduced
in the present volume, p. 8.

Etching from the above watercolour by William Bell Scott,
circa i860.

Another watercolour by Filippo Pistrucci (very bad), circa 1840.

Pencil-drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1847 — being a frontis-
piece to a copy of * Verses,' 1847, now in the possession of Mr.
William Michael Rossetti.

Portrait (oil) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1848. Processed in
* Dante Gabriel Rossetti : his Family Letters.*

Head (pencil) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, circa 1848. It now
belongs to Mr. Sydney Morse. Reproduced in the present volume,
to face p. 1 5.

Head (profile), a tracing of a drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Reproduced to face p. 259 of ' Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Letters to
William AUingham, 18 54- 1870.' It is stated in that volume that
*Mr. Arthur Hughes, in whose possession the tracing is, believes

352 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

that the drawing is made as a study for the head of the Virgin in
Rossetti's first Pracraphaelite picture, The Girlhood of Mary Virgin^
painted in 1848-49.'

Head of Mary in *The Girlhood of Mary Virgin,' by Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, 1849.

Head by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (perhaps preliminary study
for * Ecce Ancilla Domini,' 1849. Processed in * New Poems,' 1896.

Portrait (oil) by James Collinson, 1849. Reproduced for the
first time in the present volume, to face p. 17.

Head in 'The Annunciation' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1850.

Pencil-drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, executed in October,
1852, in the possession of W. M. Rossetti. Reproduced for the
first time in the present volume, to face p. 27.

Pencil-drawing (profile) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in the
possession of Mr. W. M. Rossetti, circa 1855.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's design of King Arthur and the
Weeping Queens in illustrated edition of Tennyson's Idylls of the
King^ published by Edward Moxon (1856-7). One of the female
heads is Christina Rossetti.

Photograph (full-length), 1861.

Photograph of Christina Rossetti and her mother, now in the
possession of Mr. W.'M. Rossetti, taken by * Lewis CarroU' (the
Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in the garden of Tudor House,
16 Cheyne Walk, towards 1863. Reproduced in the present
volume, to &ce p. 135.

Photograph of Christina Rossetti, in a family group consisting
of her mother, her sister Maria, her brothers Dante Gabriel and
William Michael, and herself, also taken by ' Lewis Carroll,' in the
garden of Tudor House, circa 1864 or 1865.

Chalk drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (face resting on
hands), 1866. Reproduced in the present volume as frontispiece.

Portrait (in chalk) of Christina Rossetti and Mrs. Rossetti by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1877, now in National Portrait Gallery.

Two heads (in chalk) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1877.

Photograph (Messrs. Elliott and Fry) — Full-face, 1877.

Photograph (Messrs. Elliott and Fry) — Downcast eyes, 1877.

Christina Rossetti sat for Lady Jane Beaufort in William Bell
Scott's distemper painting at Penkill Castle, representing James I.
of Scotland, his first sight of Lady Jane Beaufort

Note by Mr. W. M. Rossetti after reading foregoing list of
portraits :

'I have lately been handling 2 other portraits by G[abriel]
wh[ich] seem worth mentioning, i is a profile, not later than

LIST OF PORTRAITS 353

1846, or maybe 1845 : it is a goodish piece of work for that early
time, but is of course not marked by G's finer qualities. A very
direct literal rendering, and, from that point of view, highly
interesting pencil drawing. 2 is a graceful pencil drawing, towards
[i8]52 or perhaps earlier : C[hristina] in a large easy chair, full
length : clearly a study of her from the life, but the face is not
strongly defined nor greatly like.'

•There are various other sketches of Christina bv Dante
Gabriel* — not any, I think, of marked importance.'

*A few pages of M.S., consisting of notes upon various pas-
sages in Genesis and Exodus, were found among the papers left by
Christina at the time of her death. The notes (which may date
towards 1865) relate to Old Testament types of the New Testament
dispensation, and to other matters. They are at present (Oct. 1897)
consigned to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
with a view to publication.'

' One of these appears as frontispiece to ' Maude.*

A A

INDEX

* Advent,' Christina Rossetii's,

Mr. Swinburne on, 244

* After Communion,' Christina

Rossetti's, 230
•After Death,' Christina Rossetti's,

210, 211
Aguilar, Mr. , his cantata * Goblin

Market,* 210

* Albina, On,' Christina Rossetti's,

164
Alleyn, Ellen, a pseudonym of
Christina Rossetti. See * Ellen
Alleyn '

* Amen,' Christina Rossetti's,

quoted, 245

* Amor Mundi,' Christina Rossetti's,

230* 231
Awttts Domiiiiy Christina Rossetti's,

the devotional verse in, 241 ;

publication of, 285 ; described,

analysed, and quoted, 285-287

Anti-Christ, Christina Rossetti on,

159, 160

* Apple-gathering, An,' Christina

Rossetti's, 214
'Autumn,' Christina Rossetti's,
quoted, 222

• Ballad of Boding,' Christina \

Rossetti's, quoted, 226, 227

• Beauty is Vain,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 218, 219

Benson, Mr. A, C, on Christina
Rossetti, 330, 331

Besant, Sir Walter, 158

Blake, William, Christina Rossetti's
admiration for, 308 ; his and her
symbolism, 320, 321

Bodichon, Madame, Christina Ros-
setti on, 67, 68

Bonaparte, Prince Louis Napo-
leon, 6

Bonaparte, Prince Pierre, 6

Bonaparte, Princess Chrbtina, 6

Bonar, Rev. Dr. Horatius, his ix)em
quoted, 254

'Brandons Both,' Christina Ros-
setti's, quoted, 226

Bronte family, the, 3

* Brother Bruin, 'Christina Rossetti's,
quoted. 232

Brown, Ford Madox, has Christina
Rossetti for a pupil in drawing,
16 ; his • Christ Washes Peter's
Feet,' 28, 29 ; his diary quoted,
33 ; letter from, quoted, 52

Brown, Mrs. Ford Madox, letter to,
from Christina Rossetti, 33, 34;
mentioned, 68

Brown, Oliver Madox, reference to,
in letters from Christina, 41, 113 ;
letter to, from Christina Rossetti,

Browning, Elizal^eth Barrett, Chri«?-
tina Rossetti on, 90, 93 ; proposed
life of, 90 ; compared with Chris-
tina. 321-324

Bur ne- Jones, Lady, mentioned, 30 ;
her sisters, 30

Burns as a dramatic lyrist, 4

Burrows, Canon, proposed life of,
162; his cojinmendatory note to
Annus Domini^ 285

Caine, Mr. T. Hall, referred to,
81, 82, 85, 94, 327

Called io be Saints^ Christina Ros-
setti's, verse in, 241, 242 ; pub-
lished, 289 ; descril)cd, analysed,
and quoted, 289-295

A A 2

CIirvISTIXA RC>>>ETTI

C^T."^ -. X. T.. Crr-'l-^ R-is-

* C ITT »!'. Lr»» .-,' 12.WCS i ph ■! t^p'r.
•f Mr-. iT*: C:-r.<L-ii K-»s>e:u,

k Ks^::'-. qn:«:e<i. 12, 16
C.M*nn-. CT-iiir- Kri^"!. n^r.:>.-*n*'i,
2S, 7C-. I30: :> tr^^.^ixiijci of

165

*

Cftri-: CHurcf^:. W.-hum Sqiiarc,
165. 1S3

Mii-v l;r:.«r/>. 2S, 20
" 1 hn-tiaa - Carol . A, ' C--rl>*isa

k K^e:'j!\>, ';3-«:e<L 250
Cljrtr:rtf, :he D^ke of, Ouiacinx

!l isscft:'> p*.-«t:n cc ihe d;^:^ c.f,

12X. IJO

K >ssrtti'> ' tcof Anci'b Docniri,'
17, iS: 00 Chiisini RosserJ's
rcvr.vcrsatioRftI pomTers^ 22 : Tacr.-
tiooci, I So

CIrraatiss (Tfcristirj R.>sse:t on the,
6^ 69

r,Vilirjoo, Jjmes ^ poctratit ci
ChrbtittA Rcissje^i, 17 ; Chrisdn*

^ -" •
■•I - ■ . ♦ ^■-. *-* •*■-- w--"^ ^-a ~ •

•* --* V •

^ ■- V • • «

..i^.i.. * '^,. ... ^^ ^— « N^

* X * k%

'.x-

CiK<cd. 247
CrrrrxiDc-n, LT.rt<.i:a Rctsserti oo,

*55

PvvTF, Chri>:in2 k ■^w^ni oc, 5S;

hrr tssaiy> Ci.c*:?e3Tiiiig; him, 58;

ht< mnum-nc ••vcr h«*T. 319
IU\ic>. XXTIliim, t-ichiag by, 74,

75
Dc Ve«, Aslcev-, 03 Woniswotth,

» ^^

• Dead Cwv. Tht," 1 y Chrisftna

k^>^^e!::, qa-xeni, 103, 194. 195
•Deaih '^ a KirsrbkHrru" Chiistm
k^TsscrrriX 129. 130

• rVearh Warciics^" Chrisi-iia Ros-

serti's. 225

• Death's Chill Betrntgru" Cfansdna

Rossctti's^ qooced, 201, 202
IKbdzs. Mr. Kobeit W., Cfansdn
RosiKtd's pRseni to the chiMicD

of. 173

• Dirine and Hcman I*leading,* bf

Chnsdna Rossvtti, qxioced, 196,

197
Dison. CaD-'V). ChrisiizuL Kassetti

on his • fine mxck,' S6
Docne's * Hrmn to the FaxlierT*250

• Dream LumI * by Cbnstina RcBsrtti,

204
Dcr.r.. Mr. H. Tre&y, mentkiRed,

ic;. : :i

^.T.. n5- 5^

* Frre Ancf la Dcnnini.* Dsiite

\.l-.r.cl R sxrtti's, 17- 19
Fi»-xri<. A-re!ii Pbrdfon', Tr.en-

:. rr.:, M. ^5
F> :. * -^-rjre. rier * Middiemi.rch/

«^

* F'.'i^r. A";.A-T./ 203, 204

* i\- K .::e.* Chrisiina Rx->s5et!i*s,

* K- .: :" :he Firs: Part, The,* Chris-

:-r;i R.^^f.iX 236 : quoted. 237

* F^:;/ '. \ O.r.siTiaRossartti, loS
Fvc." C.":rl>iirj Rctss^tii's, quoted.

. V

F^

:'-*? ?->>.- viT. The." Dante

. V

i .- r . N ^^c-:::X 07

* ^

: :>

•M K

Ar.i v-tSer/ Chris-

— • -55

INDEX

357

Fac^ of the DeePy The^ Christina
Rossetti's, 47 ; quoted, 48, 63,
115. 156, 157, 159. 163, 187, 188 ;
verse in, 243, 258, 259 ; publica-
tion of, 309 ; described, analysed,
and quoted, 309-318 j naive clos-
ing words, 318

• Faint yet Pursuing,' Christina

Rossettis, 131 ; facsimile of proof

of, 132
Families, literary, 2, 3
Fasting, Christina Rossetti on, 163
Faulkner, Charles Joseph, 205

• Fior-de-Lisa,' Christina Rossetti's,

153

• Folio Q,' Christina Rossetti's story,

279

• For Thine own Sake, O Lord,*

Christina Rossetti's, quoted, 246

• Forget -me-Nol,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 164

• Freaks of Fashion,* Christina

Rossetti 's, 225

Gamberale, Signor, referred to, 8r

Garnett, Dr. Richard, mentioned,
92, 140; on Christina Rossetti,
330 ; Garnett, Mrs., 153, 180

Gerntf The^ Christina Rossetti on,
87 ; described, 202, 203 ; the Ros-
settis' contributions to, 203, 204

• Ghost's Petition, The,' Christina
Rossetti*s, 219

Gilchrist, Miss Grace, her recollec-
tions of Christina Rossetti, 38,

Gilchrist, Mrs, Anne, her acquaint-
ance with Christina Rossetti, 37 ;
her description of her, 37 ; letters
to, from Christina, 37, 38, 45,
461 50, 51 ; on Sing'Songy 262

•Girlhood of the Virgin,* Dante
Gabriel Rossetti *s, 16, 17

Gladstone, Mr. W. E., recites Chris-
tina Rossetti's * Maiden-Song,*
218

Gi)blin Market and other PoemSy
Christina Rosselti's, published, 34,
205 ; descril)ed, analysed, quoted,
205-214 ; devotional verse in,

243
Gosse, Mr. Edmund W., on

Christina Rossetti, 42, 43 ; re-
ferred to by Christina, 85; on * The
Prince's Progress,* 215

Greenwell, Dora, her poem on
Christina Rossetti, 36 ; her ac-
quaintance with Christina, 37
Grosart, Dr. A. RfCjuoted, 33
Gurney, Rcr. Alfred, Oiristina
Rossctti's correspondence with,
120-126

IIake, Dr. Gordon, mcnLici:cd,49,
65,06

* Hand and Soul,* Dante Gabriel

Rossetti's story, 272, 274

Hannay, James, 27

Hare, Dr. C. J., his notes on the
health of Christina Rossetti, 20,
21 ; on Christina's affection for
her mother, 2X ; on her grand-
father, 21

* Heart's Chill Between,* Christina

Rossetti's, quoted, 199, 200
Henley, W. E., his •Hospital'

poems, 166
Herbert, George, his • Se{.ulchre,

243

* Hero,' Christina Rossetti's story,

278

* Herself a Rose,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 249
Holmer Green, 9-1 1, 151
Hone's * Ever>'day Book,' 13
Horder, Rev. W. Garrett, Christina

Rossetti's correspondence with,

86-88

* Hour and the Ghost, The,' Chris-

tina Rossetti's, 211

Housmann, I^urance, his illustra-
tions of « Goblin Market,' 209

Hueffer, Dr., death of, 117, 118;
Mrs. Hueffer, iSo

Hueffer, Ford M., quoted, 28

Hughes, Mr. Arthur, quoted, 51 ;
mentioned, 180; his illustrations
of St'ff^^-Softgf 263-269

Hunt, Mr. Holman, on his * Light
of the World,' 19 ; mentioned, 28

Hunter'h Forestall, 71

* I KNOW YOt* NOT ' Christina Ros-

setti's, quoted, 260

* If only,' Christina Rossetti's, 245,

246
Ingelow, Jean, her knowledge of
Nature, 25 ; Christina Rcssetli on,
161, 162 ; her works ibr children,

« » - »

:x I .^ —

^ -

-; •'.- "r ^ ';.ir». .li- irr.iiair.r-
• r.* * ♦,: •' -r- n.i .<» *•»•♦ .. l".

r"si r.. \f- 1^, r'r!. "»n '/ r. ».na

•''. . ]. . \rT i.'e*-. • r V •:»:;,■ 23^
> .':!^sr.-.r.» \f ir.i r T: .»»,#», r.''r«-r.tia

KI ','r«x. ^-'^- r^r'* v-«ri, men-
.vr .- •'.. 220, 22 r

V^>, 220. 2K>

r>^:".r, Fy.w.^f^I. '/^ j',aIr.'cT. 154
/yf'yr nrd Sfinf, f/r.r.-rira R'.s-
,(*- , J. y. ,1 'rrrrf, 295 ;nr:.rf:rihjcri,

><^ri <, ''{uotf.-fi, 22^ 224
'\aU ffyklcr,,' Oj-i-'ifja Rossctt;\

^3

^.cr — i:

• "-•i

t ■*!

"*■ *A

• •

■^

•n <..s

^.*r

•4

-c".

,^ »

r. .."*.: •

.»

t-

»

^ Ir

. .£_.

--.

i»

•

, -rc"

■^V-T-

-22^

■* ■» —

!--«♦-' Ii

• •
1^.

-iir—

lTII^:.

Jl-r-.

_

A. .-r"l

^

«

_•••.-» . •

il

^

-^T

— __»

^-

1*1- '.'- 115 ?i5*:2^":. :_:t ~
!en«ttr!, ir «.'':r.3i:na .vv/?i* ■ .

2L'i-2:i

cnrfrt'i. 57, a;, r 30-134.

i.-cr^.-.'jir I c r' "«i*. ii-viiiv H

2:3

:r.e :icr ine • l. jg : deicrbc-:.
an;i>. ie'i, ani ou'-f'*'!. 279-iii
*Mtn'.«ey.* <.'*r-*»r:rji R-ss«ci:*'»
ir.cr.'.one*!, 41

cariv j.;:;Drcc.arrn --C Lt- »i^
Meypjfl!. Mr*. Alice qn«.rifi. 2L1.

* M:<l'i;f:r.^arch,' «",<-. r^ E!:» c*x JT

R/vieftrs 2^7 ; T^iotstL 2::S

• Mor/hs the : a F"±pnr:r." Osx-s-

tina k.vsi^ri's 224, 225

INDEX

359

Morris, William, mentioned, 205,
272

* Mother and Child,' by Christina

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
on, 196

Mountain Scenery, Christina Ros-
setti on, 43-48

Mount -Temple, Lady, 295

Murray, Mr. Fairfax, 298

Music, Christina Rossetti's altitude
towards, 167

* My Dream,' Christina Rossetti's,

214

Nash, Rev. Glendinning, on
Christina Rossetti's habits of
composition, 145 ; mentioned,
16S, 169, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183

New Poems^ by Christina Rossetti,
14; published, 233; described,
analysed, and quoted, 233-239 ;
devotional verse in, 259, 260

* Next of Kin,* Christina Rossetti's,

* Nick,' Christina Rossetti's, 27, 273
' Ninna«Nanna ' (translations into

Italian), 239

* No, thank you, John,' Christina

Rossetti's, 213
Noble, James Ashcroft, mentioned,

73 ; quoted, 206, 207
Norton, Mrs., on * Goblin Market,'

206

* October Garden, An,' Christina

Rossetti's, 225
*■ Oh roses for the flush of youth,'
by Christina Rossetti, 203

* Old-world Thicket, An,' Christina

Rossetti's, 225

Pageant and other Poems^ Ay Chris-
tina Rossetti's, published, 82,
224 ; mentioned in letter, 82 ; de-
scribed, analysed, and quoted, 224-
230 ; devotional verse in, 246, 247

* Paradise,' Christina Rossetti's, 247,

338

* Parsifal,* Wagner's, Christina Ros-

setti on, 124

* Passing Away,* Christina Ros-
setti's, 243 ; and quoted, 244

Patmore, Mr. and Mrs. Coventry,
140

* Pause, A,' Christina Rossetti's, 237

Penkill, Ayrshire, Christina visits
there, 50 ; her description of it, 51

Petrarch, Christina Rossetti's appre-
ciation of, 319

Pistrucci, FiUppo, paints portraits
of the Rossetti family, 8 ; his
portrait of Christina, 8

PoentSj Christina Rossetti's (1875),
230-232

Poems {i^^)t 232

Polidori, Dr. (physician to Lord
Byron), 5, 149, 151

Polidori, Gaetano (maternal grand-
father of Christina Rossetti), his
cottage at Ilolmer Green, 9;
Christina's visits there, 9-1 1 ;
prints privately Christina's first
volume ( Verses ), 15 ; de-
scribed by Dr. C. J. Hare, 21 ;
Christina's affection for, 21 ; his
prefifLce to the Verses (1847), 193

Polidori, Margaret, Eliza, and Char-
lotte (aunts of Christina Rossetti),
51, 52, 56,65,78. 119, 143

Polydore, Henrietta, Christina
Rossetti's poems on her cousin,
22, 29 ; mentioned, 35

Polydore, Henry (uncle of Christina
Rossetti), 22, 39

* Poor Ghost, The,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 219

* Portraits,' Christina Rossetti's, 29,

30

* Praying Always,' Christina Ros-

setti's, quoted, 255

Prince's Progress and other Poems^
The, Christina Rossetti's, pub-
lished, 214 ; described, analysed,
and quoted, 215-224 ; devotional
verse in, 245, 246

Procter, Adelaide, A., Christina
Rossetti on, 89

Proctor, Miss, her memoir of Chris-
tina Rossetti, 141 ; quoted, 158

QuARLEs's Emblems J 253

Radcliffe, Anne, Christina Ros-
setti's early acquaintance with her
works, 14 ; proposed biography
of, 91, 92

* Repining,* Christina Rossetti's,

quoted, 235
'Restive,' Christina Rossetti's, 252
Righi, the, Christina Rossetti on,

44, 45

^6o

CHRISTINA ROSSKTTI

* Ring Posy, A,' Christina Rosselti's,
218

'Rosseg^r dell' Oriente, II,'
Christina Rosselti's, 41

Rossetti, Christina Georgina, her
unique charm, I ; her life lacking
in incident but passed amid
nole^vorlhy surroundings, 2 ; her
natural endowments develoiicd by
training and circumstances, 3 ;
Italian spoken in family, 3 ; much
of her finest work the veiled ex-
pression of her own individu-
ality, 4 ; why her personality was
so interesting, 4 ; her birth, 5 ;
her father and mother, 5,6; her
godmothers, 6, 7 ; Filippo Pis-
trucci's portrait of her at seven
years of age, 8 ; her early child-
hood, 9 ; references to it in Time
Files i 9-1 1 ; her childish amuse-
ments, 12 ; her fondness for
animals, 12, 141 ; her home
education, 13 ; her quick temper,
13 ; desultory in habits of study,
13; her early reading, 13, 14;
her first verses, 15; her first
volume of verse, 15, 191-199;
her drawings therein, 15, 16 ; a
pupil of Ford Madox Brown, 16 ;
probably her brother Dante
Gabriel's first model, 16 ; his
portrait of her at seventeen, 16;
her portrait by James Collinson,
17 ; sits for the Virgin in Dante
(iabriel's * Girlhood of Mar)'
Virgin * and * Ecce Ancilla
Domini,' 17, 18 ; at Brighton, 18 ;
her personal appearance, 18, 19 ;
she sits to Mr. Holman Hunt for

* The Light of the World,' 19 ;
her uncertain health at seventeen
or eighteen, 19 ; her sense of
humour, 20 ; Dr. C. J. Hare's notes
concerning her, 20, 21 ; her deep
love for her mother and attach-
ment to her grandfather, 21 ; her
conversational characteristics, 22 ;
her constitutional melancholy, 22,

23 ; her reserve<l demeanour, 23 ;
issists her mother in keeping day-
schools in London and at Frome,

24 ; her knowledge of Nature,

25 ; her life at Frome, 25, 26 ; her
brother Dante Gabriel on her

* pictorial eye,* 27 ; is supposed to

I

have suffered (1852) from anginA
peitoris^ 27 ; attended by Sir
William Jcnner, 28 ; her exfx^cta-
tion of early death, 29 ; her verses
for friends, 30 ; ' an unhappy love
}xts$age,' 31 ; 45 Upper Albany
Street, 32 ; her miscellaneous liter-
ary work, 32, 33 ; on the death oi
Arthur ^f adox Brown, 33, 34 ; her
income from literature, 34, 35 v
her visits to the seaside, 35 ; her
health, 35 ; meets Dora Grecn-
^'cll, 36, 37 ; at Shottermill, 37 ;
dcscrilwl by Anne Gilchrist, 37 ;
Miss Grace CHlchrist's reminis-
cences of her (1863), 38, 39; at
Cheltenham and Gloucester, 39 ;
her feeling for symbolism, 39, 93,
249, 250, 292, 293, 303, 320,
321 ; on Malvern, 40; a second
olfer of marriage received and
rejected, 40, 41 ; *a thorough
Englishwoman,' 42, 43; her ex-
perience of foreign travel (1861
and 1865), 43,44; its influence
on her verse, 44-48; her prose
comments thereon, 45-48 ; her
friendship for Dr. Littledale and
the author, 49, 50 ; her favourite
portrait of herself, 50 ; her visits
to Penkill (Ayrshire), 50, 51 ; 56
ICuston Square, 52 ; she suffers
from exophthalmic bronchocele
(1871-73), 52; her appear-
ance in middle age, 53 ; the
photographic portraits of her,
53) 54 ; her philanthropic labours,
54, 55 ; at Eastbourne, 55, 56 ;
her devotion to her relations, 56 ;
her loving appreciation of her
sister Maria Frances, 57-63, 72 ;
a student, admirer, and critic of
Dante, 58 ; her strong practical
coninion-scnse, 61, 62 ; a guest at
Kelniscott Manor House (1871-
1874), 64 ; she settles with her
mother at 30 Torrington Square,
London (1876), 65; on the
clematis, 68, 69 ; on the phe-
nomena of sunrise, 70, 71 ; at
Hunter's Forestall, 71 ; on J.
Ashcroft Noble, 73 ; moralises,
on * a {xirable of nature,' 75, 76 ;
contributes to Ttu A(henaum„
78 ; comments on sonnets by
her brother Dante Gabriel,

INDEX

361

79, 80, 82 ; on her brothe| Dante
Gabriel's * Francesca,' 84; her
Pageant and other Poems (1881),
82 ; at Sevenoaks, 83 ; on her
brother Dante Gabriers health,
85 1 117; on Canon Dixon's
verse, 86 ; on Carrington's * Nati-
vity,* 87; on a poem by James
Collinson, 87 ; on 'Divine fore-
knowledge, 88 ; invited to con-
tribute to * The Eminent Women '
Series, 88 ; on Adelaide Procter,
89 ; on Elizabeth Barrett Brown-
ing, 90, 91-93 ; on Anne Rad-
clifTe, 91, 92; a strong anti-
vivisectionist, 95 ; her corre-
spondence concerning the Dante
Gabriel window at Birchington,
95-103 ; letters illustrative of the
practical side of her character,
99-101, 106 ; on death, 106; on
7'ime Flies (1885), 107, I08 ;
her notes for designs by Mr.
Shields, 109, 1 10 ; her views on
the social position of women,
III, 112; her mother's illness
and decease, 114, 115 ; her indebt-
edness to her mother, X15, 116;
on the death of Dr. Hueflfer, 118;
on Dr. George Macdonald, 121 ;
on two pictures by her brother
Dante Gabriel, 121 ; on Wagner's
* Parsifal,' 124 ; specimens of her
epistolary humour, 1 27- 1 29 ; her
poem on the death of the Duke of
Clarence, 129, 130 ; her * Faint,
yet Pursuing,' 131-133 ; on Tudor
House, Chelsea, 134, 135 ; her
appearance in 1893, 136 ; her voice
and diction, 136, 137 ; her attire,
J 37 » J^er conversation, 138 ; pro-
posed removal from Torrington
Square, 139, 140; *No 30'
described, 142-151 ; the origin-
ality of her work, i44;hermethods
of work, 145, 146 ; her hand-
writing, 146-148 ; a specimen of
it in &csimile, 147 ; her love of
flowers, 150 ; on Mr. Shields, 152,
a keen judge of cliaracter, 152,
153, 154 ; on Edward Lear, 154 ;
on cremation, 155 ; her political
sympathies, 156 ; her views on
some social evils, x 56-1 58 ; her in-
terest in the poor, 158 ; on Anti-
christ, 159, x6o; on courtesy, 160;

her poetic preferences, 161 ; an
exquisite reader of poetry, 161 ;
on Jean Ingelow, 161, 162 ; her
personal habits, 162- 165 ; on
fasting, 163 ; her cheerfulness,
164 ; her health in 1892-94, 165 ;
her regard for the work of Isaac
Williams, 165, 166; on W. E.
Henley's * Hospital,' 166; her
attitude towards music, 167 ; suf-
fers again from cancer (1893),
167 ; her Verses (1893), '68 ; her
final illness and death, 168-174 ;
the spiritual gloom of her laJst
days, 176, 177 ; praise of her
gifts, 178, 179 ; the funeral,
179-182; Mr. Watts- Dunton's
sonnets in description of it,
182, 183 ; the grave, 184-186; a
womanly woman, 186, a Church-
woman, but not bigoted, 187,
188 ; Mr. Watts-Dunton on
phases of her character, 188- 190 ;
her confident faith in a future
existence, 190

- her general poems, 1 91-239 ;
her devotional poems, 240-260;
her children's books and prose
stories, 261-264 ; her litanies,
312 ; her devotional prose, 285-
318; influence of Italian litera-
ture on her work, 319 ; mor-
bidity of her work, 320; her
place among poets, 320 ; her
likeness to William Blake, 321 ;
contrasted with Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, 32 1 -326 ; compared
wiih Jean Ingelow, 262, 326;
praised by Mr. Swinburne, 326,
327 ;■ characterised by W. M.
Rossetti, 328, 329; by Mr.
Watts-Dunton, 329; by Mr.
Andrew Lang, 329, 330 ; by Dr.
Gamett and Mrs. Alice Meynell,
330 ; by Mr. A. C. Benson, 330,
33 X ; by Mr. Arthur Symons,
331, 332 ; by Mr. Lionel John-
son, 332 ; the titles of her poems,
332} 333 ; peculiarities of her
versification, 333, 334 ; her
religious and devotional verse>
334» 335 ; her sacred prose, 337 ;
individuality of her work, 337 ;
its placidity, 337; 'The Daily
News ' cited, 337 ; the Christian
tone and temper of her work, 338

362

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Rossetti, Christina Georgina, letters,
or extracts from letters, by ; 33, 34,

37, 38, 40, 41, 42» 45. 46,
501 5i» 53» 55. 56, 65, 66, 67, 68.
69, 70, 72, 7^, 74, 75. 76, 77, 78.
79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84. 85, 86,

87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93. 94,
96, 97, 98, 99, icx>, loi, 102,
103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108,
111,112, 113,114,117, 118,119,
120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125,
126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131,

133, 134. 140, 150, 155. >58,
161, 162, 163, < 166, 219, 295
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, Mr. Fred-
eric Shields on, 2 ; his work as
poet and painter, 3 ; his birth, 5 ;
has his sister Christina for a
model, 16, 17 ; his first finished
painting, 16 ; his ' Girlhood of
Mary Virgin * and * Ecce Ancilla
Domini,* 17, 18 ; his ' adoration *
of his sister Christina, 20 ; his

* Found,' 26 ; letters from, 26, 27,
81 ; his drawing of Christina
(1852), 27 ; mentioned, 28, 30,
64 ; his portrait of Christina
(1866), 50 ,' his memorial window
to Margaret Polidori, 52 ; letters
to, from Christina, 55, 56, 66,
67, 68, 69, 72-75, 76.81, 82-85 ;
at Bognor, 65 ; his sonnets in
Th£ Athetioum, 79, 80 ; his
•Raleigh,' 82; his * Francesca,'
84 ; the * fatal chloral,' 85 ; his

* Eve of the Passover,' 97 ; his

* Veronica Veronese,' * La Bella
Mano,' and * Beatrix,' 121, 122;
his ' Hand and Soul,' 122, 123 ;
referred to, 139, 142 ; on Charles
Whitehead, 164 ; on his sister
Christina's * Mother and Child,'
196 ; his contributions to 77ie
Germ^ 203 ; his designs for
Goblin Market^ 205 ; his fond-
ness for animals, 208, 209 ; on
Christina's * Convent Threshold,'
212 ; his designs for The Prince's
Progress y 215 ; on Christina's

* To-day for Me,' 231 ; his por-
trait of Christina in New Poems ^
233 ; on Christina's Seek and
Fifui, 288 ; on Christina's poetr}'
generally, 324

Rossetti, Frances Mary Lavinia
(mother of Christina Rossetti),

her mArriage, 5 ; a Church woman,
6 ; teaches her children the Bible
and Catechism, 12, 13 ; Chris-
tina's affection for, 21 ; described
by Dr. C. J. Hare, 21 ; keeps
day-schools in London and Fromc,
24 ; letter to her son Dante
Ciabriel, 40 ; arranges for memorial
window tu Dante Gabriel in
Birchington Church, 95 ; her
death, 114; her tombstone, 185 ;
referred to in Christina's letten.
passim

Rossetti, Gabriele (father of Chris-
tina Rossetti), poet, reformer,
and professor of Italian, 5 ;
mainly a freethinker, 6 : his
altered views on religious subjects ;
his religious poems {UArpa
Evangelica)^ 6, 315 ; poem on his
daughters, 7.; the friend of
exiles, 7 ; failure of his health,
24 ; his death, 32 ; his tombstone,
184

Rossetti, Maria Francesca (sister of
Christina Rossetti), her birth, 5 ;
portraits of, 8 ; her childisih
amusements, 12; quoted, 13;
becomes a governess, 24 ; enters
the Anglican Sisterhood of All
Saints', 54; her 'Shadow of
Dante,' 57, 59-61 ; her funeral,
72 ; referred to, 3, 28, 41, 42, 52,
56, 57, 62, 63, 66, 146, 207, 307

Rossetti, Michael Ford Madox.
Christina Rossetti's poem on, 186

Rossetti, William Michael (younger
brother of Christina Rossetti), a
notable contemporary writer, 3 ^
his birth, 5 ; on his father, 6 ; on
Lady Dudley Stuart, 6; Maria
Francesca Rossetti on, 13 ; in the
Civil Service, 24 ; his marriage,
65 ; Christina Rossetti's love and
respect for, 172 ; quoted, or cited,
concerning his sister Christina and
her work, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19,
21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 36,
37, 44, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55. 58.
79, 96, 101, 102, 139, 140, 145'
146, 148, 150, 154, 155,
167, 170, 171, 172, 177,
183, 184, 185, 186, 202,
206, 207, 208, 209, 211,
213, 220, 221, 234, 236. 238, 273»
277, 278, 279, 294, 308, 309,

156,
181,
203.
212,

INDEX

63

310. 319. 328, 329» 333, 33S»
336; references to, 38, 42, 43,

45. 52» 58, 65. 66, 72t 73»
74,82, 90, 103, 113, 118, 119,
120, 123, 135, 149, 168, 171,
174, 179, 203, 233, 234, 239;
letters to, from Christina Rossetti,
108, 127-129, 155
Rossetti, Mrs. W. M. (Miss Lucy
Madox Brown), letters to, from
Christina Rossetti, 41, 42, 65, 69,
70, 106, 113, 117, 118,119, 120,
127-129

* Royal Princess, A,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 219, 220

* Ruined Cross, The,' by Christina

Rossetti, 196

* Safe Investment, A,' Christina

Rossetti's story, 278
Sandys, Mr. F. A., his illustration

of * Amor Mundi,* 230, 231
Sangiovanni, Benedetto, a modeller

in clay, 9» 143

Scott, William Bell, his etching
from Pistrucci's portrait of Chris-
tina Rossetti, 8, his first meeting
with Christina Rossetti, 15 ; is
visited by Christina at Newcastle,
36 ; referred to, 49, 80

Seek and Ftnd^ Christina Rossetti's
publication of, 287 ; described,
analysed and quoted, 287-289

Sentence^ The^ b^ Augusta Webster,
161

Sharp, William, his * Reminiscences
of Christina Rossetti ' quoted, 1 1,
138, 161

Shields, Frederic, on Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, 2 ; letters to, from
Christina Rossetti, 85,86, 93,94,
96-1 1 1, 177; mentioned, 50,93,
114, 125, 150, 180, 3x8; me-
morial window to Dante Gabriel
Rossetti in Birchington Church,
95 ; his decorations for the chapel
at Eaton Hall, 108-I10; his
< Good Shepherd,* 104, 150, 152 ;
Christina Rossetti on, 152

Sing-Song^ Christina Rossetti's, 129,
173 ; described, analysed, and
quoted, 26 1 -270

* Sir Eustace Grey,' by Christina

Rossetti, 197, 198
'Sketch, A,' by Christina Rossetti,

X53

'Songs in a Cornfield,' Christina
Rossetti's, 218

Sjpeaking LikeftesseSj Christina Ros-
setti's dedication of, 5 ; described,
analysed, and quoted, 270-272

Stead, W. T., quoted, 325

Stephens, Mr. F. G., mentioned,
28, 180

Stevenson, R. L., his verses for chil-

' dren, 262

Stuart, Lady Dudley (Princess
Christina Bonaparte), godmother
of Christina Rossetti, 6

* Summer,' by Christina Rossetti,

quoted, 196

* Summer is Ended,' Christina

Rossetti's, quoted, 238
Sunrise, Christina Rossetti on, 70, 71
Swinburne, Mr., his elegy on
Christina Rossetti quoted, 178;
his * Olive,' 261 ; his liking for
*Vanna's Twins,' 278; his
* Ballad of Appeal,' quoted, 326,
327 ; his essay on Herrick quoted,

327

* Symbols,' by Christina Rossetti,

244
Symons, Mr. Arthur, on Christina
Rossetti, 331, 332

Tasso, Christina Rossetti's apprecia*
tion of, 319

T^ptation, Sensual, Christina Ros-
setti on, 3CX>-302

Tennyson family, the, 2, 3

* Testimony, A,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 204
Theological disquisition, Christina
Rossetti approaches once, 299

* The whole head is sick and the

whole heart faint,' quoted, 235

* They desire a better country,'

Christina Rossetti's, 247

* Three Enemies, The,' Christina

Rossetti's, 243

* Three Nuns,' Christina Rossetti's,

236
Time and its employment, Christina

Rossetti on, 1 59
Time Flies, Christina Rossetti's, 9;

quotations from, 9, 10, ii, 26,

.34» 35» 36, 39» 40, 44» 4S» 4^, 47.
49, 5o» 5S» 61,62, 63, 72, 75, 76,
154, I59» 160, 171 ; referred to,
107, 108, 124; devotional verse
in, 258 \ publication of, 304 ;

364

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

described, analysed, and quoted,

304-309

* To-day for Me,* Christina Ros-

setli's, Dante Gabriel Rossetti on,

231
Torrington Square, No. 30, de-

scril^, 142-144, 148-152

* Touching Never,' Christina's Ros-

setti's, 229

* Triad, A,' Christina Rossetti's, 213
Tudor House, Chelsea, Christina

Rossetti on, 134, 135
'Twice,' Christina Rossetti^ 219
'Twilight Calm,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 214

* Two Thoughts of Death,' Chris-

tina Rossetti's, 238
Tynan, Miss Katherine (Mrs.
Hinkson), quoted, 148

* Under thb Rose,' Christina

Rossetti's, 220; change of title,
220

* Up-hill,' Christina Rossetti's, 214

•Vanity Fair,' Christina Ros-
setti's, 236

* Vanity of Vanities,' Christina Ros-

setti's, 198
' Vanna's Twins, ' Christina Rossetti's

story, 278
Vaughan's, Henry, * Mount of

Olives,' 336

* Venus's Looking Glass,' Christina

Rossetti's, 231
Verga, Signor, the novelist, 130, 131
Verses (1847), Christina's Rossetti's
first volume so-called, privately
printed, 15, 191 ; illustrated by
her, 15, 16; facsimile of title-
page, 192
Kiprjw (1893), Christina Rossetti's
religious, x68 ; described, ana-
lysed, and quoted, 247-258

Wagner's « Parsifal,' Christina
Rossetti on, 124

Walton-on-the-Naze, Christina Ros-
setti on, 77

' Waste, To what purpose is this,'
Christina Rossetti's, quoted, 255

* Water Spirits' Song, The,' Chris-

tina Rossetti's, quoted, 195, 196

< Waters of Babylon, By the,'
Christina Rossetti's, 87

Watts-Dunton, Theodore, on Chris-
tina Rossetti's pexsonid a^spear-
ance, 18, 19 ; on her knowledge
of Nature, 25 ; on Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, 64; his 'promised
volume ' of reminiscences, 65 ;
his description of suiuise, quoted,
71 ; on Mrs. Rossetti's influence
over Christina, and Christina's
influence over Dante Gabriel,
115, 1x6; his 'Two Christmas-
Tides,' quoted, 182, 183; 00
aspects of Christina's character,
188-190 ; references to, in Chris-
tina's letters, 77, 82, 85, 103,
122, 123, 126 ; quoted, 78, 137,
Mi» 329» 333; mentioned, 149,
180, 181, 2x4, 261

'We know not a voice of that
River,' Christina Rossetti's, 257

Webster, Augusta, letters to, from
Christina Rossetti, xii, 1x2;
Christina on T^ Sentefue^ x6x

Westcott, Dr., Bishop of Durham,
on Christina Rossetti, X78, 179

' What ? ' Christina Rossetti's,
30 ; its autobic^raphical interest,

31

* When I am dead, my dearest,*

fecsimile of MS. of, 147 ; the text

of, 2XX
' When I was dead, my spirit turned, '

Christina Rossetti's, 2x0
'When my heart is vexed I will

complain,' Christina Rossetti's,

247
Whitehead, Charles, Dante Gabriel

Rossetti on, 164

* Why,' Christina Rossetti's, quoted,

246

* Wild Irish Boy.' Maturin's. 14
Williams, Isaac, Christina Rossetti s

appreciation of, X65, 166; his
Hartnony of the Four Evauge-
listSy 287

Wilson, Miss Lisa, 180, i8x. See
•Fior-de-Lisa.'

'Women's Rights,' Christina Ros-
setti on, I IX, xi2

Words, inadequacy of, as means of
expression, x

Spottiswoodt &* Co. PrinUrSt New^treei Square^ Lotuion,

PICTURES OF TRAVEL

AND OTHER POEMS.

BY

MACKENZIE BELL.

In One Vol., Crown 8vo,, Gilt Top. With Six Illustrations.

PRICE 35. 6d.

The AtheneBuxn says :
altogether this book appeals strongly to
religious public — to the men and women
middle age and later, who have varied
•erience of the world, and can appreciate,
refore, the author's point of view and
de of treatment. The young, with their
lowment of energy and passion, have many
»kesmen ; and it is pleasant occasionally,
in this instance, to come across a writer
o, leaving on one side the erotic, the
iciful, and the lurid, devotes himself to
)se pensive souls to whom years have
)ught the philosophic mind.

Tbo Publishers* Circular says :
Mr. Mackenzie Bell possesses the true
etic instinct. His verses have the ring of
ontaneity, they have also melody and
'ce : and the workmanship is almost in
riably good. In his new volume he gives
a second instalment of the graceful
Pictures of Travel" which distinguished
* previous volume of poems. With " The
ittle Pause " he is ambitious. This is an
ia^inary episode at Waterloo.
The poet is successful, to our thinking,
ith his cheering, vigorous ode "To a
^orker among the Poor." The religious
>C'ms are unaffectedly noble in their simple,
mtiine faith, and will doubtless be widely
)preciated. One of them is a tribute, in
^c verse only, " To Christina Rossetti.
real as a Poet, Greater as a Woman," of
horn it will be remembered Mr. Bell has

written a charming biographical and critical
study in prose. From cover to cover the
volume is genuine poetry, and some pieces
mark Mr. Bell's highest achievement in the
department of literature which he cultivates
with so much success. We heartily com-
mend the volume to all lovers of poetry.

The Literary World sfl>'j.-
If any of our readers should ask us to
commend to their notice a book of culti-
vated verse, we could not do better than put
forward Mr. Mackenzie Bell's " Pictures of
Travel" as our selection. As we turned
from poem to poem in this pleasant volume,
we b^:ame more and more impressed by the
quiet and orderly conduct of Mr. Bell's
Muse, and we wondered at the level per-
formance throughout the book. Not a few
among our modem poets are very tricksy in
the matter of merit, sometimes, though all
too infrequently, delighting us by a verse
most assuredly snatched from beauty's
heart, sometimes calmly issuing a bristling
and horrifying blemish with quite a cocksure
air, as if it were also worthy to be admired
and treasured in our recollection. Mr.
Mackenzie Bell has nothing to do with such
bewildering gymnastics, such leapings from
peaks to morasses, for he neither uplifts us
by means of a permanent loveliness, nor
casts us down by means of the bitter opposite.
Quietly, simply, musically, he sings as he
passes along amid scenes th^t cheer him and
wake in him the desire to fix in gentle stanzas

his gentle emotions. Therefore, he may be
described as a safe companion rather than
as a starry guide. He will not fire the soul ;
he will not deceive the ear. Whatsoever of
balm lives in his verse may be well represented
by " Evening in the Forest of Meudon."
It were well if more of our poets could
breathe thus gently, instead of mauling
firmaments and fracturing rainbows.

The Daily News says :

Mr. Mackenzie Bell's " Pictures of Travel
and other Poems " is very much in the spirit
of his *' Spring's Immortality." It is the
harvest of the quiet eye. He excels in the
picture of what may be called the still life of
animate things. Take* for example, the
•• Evening in the Forest of Meudon" : —

Returning sometimes from the fields of
sleep,

I seem to see that twilight once again,
That twilight as mysterious, rich, and deep,

As yonder blackbird's strain.

I see the sombre loveliness around ;

I feel the sense of awe, the enthralling
peace,
Of Nature's woodland silence, for no sound

Makes here that silence cease.

The effect here is so full and complete of its
kind that we almost resent " the sudden
burst of song that suddenly breaks the spell,"
though it is entirely in the scheme of the
poem. One of the more considerable pieces
IS •• The Battle's Pause." This is a momen-
tary break in the storm of war at Waterloo,
with the reflections that pass through the
minds of men on either side while waiting
for the next onset. Most of them think of
home, in their own way - some by its purely
personal associations, others by stately
pictures of travel associated with their
native places The more important of these
breaks consists of a fine passage descriptive
of the old-fashioned merchantmen's passing
out of the estuary of the Mersey with a
favourable wind. Several of the pieces
are of a religious cast, including one in
memory of Christina Kossetti.

The Standard says :

Mr. Mackenzie Bell, as those know who
have read his recent excellent biography of
Christina Rossetti. is a poet with a serious
and cultivated literary taste. His new
volume of verses, " Pictures of Travel,"
bears additional testimony to the fact.

The Olobe says .-

Throughout the book the style is clear
and concise, the diction effectively simple

and restrained. The mastery c(
metres is conspicuous. It should l^e
that these " Pictures * are prettily idi.ii
and no less prettily bound. T1i€>
assuredly enhance the author's repuu:
a poet.

The Dally Mall. London, ^^-i

There is some quiet good worit *
Mackenzie Bell's *' Pictures of Tra.-
other Poems." •■ A Plea for Faith ^
the truest and most human note in a :
which, even in this age of neglect of p
will certainly find many appreciative vc-.

Lloyd's Weekly Ne wrspaper s.

Every page of this dainty volutDf h
evidence that the writer has true :>
I power. If he does not stir to eKaltx-i-
I move to tears, he compels the attGi
I the reader by his vivid depiction of ru:^
I scenery and deep religious feeling

longest poem. ''The Battle's Pause. .
[ imaginary episode at Waterloo, whe-.
I various u)rces in that momentous c "
I have a brief space for reflection. Nap
' is there, his lite

" Wasting through care and lust of sl^/

as well as young English soldiers. «■ I
thoughts fly from the scene of caLnm^
their village homes and those near an/ i
to them. "A Plea for Faith " touches ^ I
of the deep mysteries of life, and bids si
joy and grief remember that God nilc^ |
might and wisdom. Mr. Bell ha^ 'i-'
scrupulous care to avoid anything lil*?
perbole or exaggeration of thought r
attractive and artistically wrought \-«r$( ^
is at his best in such pieces as " The I I
scphy of Our Feelings." Here we havf
fine thought expressed in perfect form ^i
rhythm, and the volume cootains r^l
such examples.

i

"J. D.»' iu The Star, M^i-

Some of Mr. Bell's *' Pictures of Tn- 1
and other Poems" might have been vrnv.j
by Wordsworth. Simple serious thiJn:^ :|
sings simply and seriously, with the (^u-^ '
homely charm that ever hangs rouDdadi ^
simplicity . . . Such lines as th'^^ j
Frederick Tennyson and to Chro!:-^
Rossetti are good to read. The latter > |
tribute worthy of the serene and beaut
spirit whose influence seems to hwod ^> ^
many of these poems.

" D. Pltkethly " in The Morning Leads

toys:
Lovers of travel and of Nature *'
welcome Mr. Bell's direct and uno.str'.
tiously transcribed impressions

The Queen My« ;

%fa.ckenzie Bell, whose "Life of
tina. Kossetti " was one of the most
ta^nt literary biographies published
eaj-, a.nd went like his last volume of
i. '• Spring's Immortalit)'," almost
J lately into a second eaition, is just
;lilng a new volume of poems,
i<i •• Pictures of Travel." Among the
r class critics, what one might call the
i Clxih School. Mr. Bell's poems enjoy
consideration for their deep feeling
leditativeness.

mie OhrlBUan Ag'e sstys :

far tbe longest poem in the collection
e called "The Battle's Pause," in which
E^ell depicts, with many a clever touch,
in inner visions which he imagines to
: occurred to some of the war-worn
ers during a momentary lull in the
ly battle-storm at Waterloo. There are
ral religious poems, all exce-llent alike in
tght and manner.

'be Illustrated London News says :

\r Mackenzie Bell, in celebrating the
autes Pyr^n^es" in his "Pictures of
vel, and other Poems." also takes more
c^ of the homely and human aspects of
se mountains than of their sublime soli-
es. Perhaps an extract from this little
;m, " Near St. Sauveur," will give a fairly
quate idea of the poet's gentle Muse.

The Church Times says -.

rhere will be found in these pages many
apt thought gracefully expressed.

Great Thouerhte says •,

Sir. Mackenzie Bell's " Pictures of Travel "
ike a verjr pretty volume, and the illus-
itions, evidently the outcome of the
thor's Kodak, aad considerable interest to
e poems, some of the best of which embody
e spirit of the scenes depicted. Mr. Bell
& much of the devoutness of Miss Rossetti.
lose life he wrote la^t^ear, and occasionally
i catch in his verses reminders of her
isiint and vivid style.

The Church Family Newspaper says :

Mr. Mackenzie Bell has already gained
)lice as among the more promising of our
>unger poets. The present volume contains
any poems that will Increase the confidence

of his admirers. The " Pictures of Travel "
are a series of descriptive and reflective
pieces which are memorials of visits to
Switzerland, the Pyrenees, &c. They give
evidence of careful observation and reverent
poetical feeling. The most important single
poem in the volume is "The Battle's
Pause," in which the probable soliloquies of
a number of typical French and British
solJier?, during an interval at Waterloo, are
presented with considerable imaginative
force. The religious poems are in the true
devotional key.

Life says I

The book shows evidence of much depth
of religious thought, and there is a freedom
of style and vigour of rhythm in much
of the verse which appeals specially to the
reader. *• The Battle's Pause " is the longest
poem, and contains some noteworthy stanzas
on "The Great Napoleon." the "Scots
Greys" and " Inniskillings," and on the
" Mersey at Liverpool in 1815."

The People says:

Contains many pretty thoughts framed in
smooth versification. The author bids fair
to take high position among England's minor
poets; he unquestionably possesses the
poetic gift in exceptional measure.

The Weekly Dispatch says :

" Pictures of Travel and other Poems,"
by Mackenzie Bell, is a delightful volume of
poems. Melodious, simple, and unaffected,
they are full of what every reader must
recognise as the true poetic inspiration. We
can do with much more poetry of this
character.

The Church Review says :

Mr. Mackenzie Bell, has made his name
known, so that his new volume of graceful
verse will receive a welcome. He is never
startling, yet always thoughtful, and some-
times original ; we are never shocked by
him. but often strike on pretty fancies, as
when he speaks of the birds singing and
"scarce aware they sing." Mr. Bell is not
ashamed of his religious faith — he has no
trace of cant, but is manly and dignified,
and evinces a well-balanced mind. The
book, which is dedicated to Archdeacon
Sinclair, is very well brought out, and gives
a portrait of the author and six illustrations.

Public Opinion says :

" Pictures of Travel and other Poems," by
Mackenzie Bell, form an attractive book.
The Miscellaneous, Religious, and Pic-
turesque poems are charmingly penned.
" The Battle's Pause" (an imaginary episode
at Waterloo) will find many admirers, for it
quivers with action and pathos. There are
six illustrations, the best being a portrait of
the poet.

The Presbyterian say% :

We like much the pervading spirit of £aith
and hope in his verse. The book is illus-
trated with a portrait and some half-dozen
drawings of scenes described in " Pictures of
Travel."

The Baptist Magazine snys :

The Bafi/ist Afagazine gave an early wel-
come several years ago to Mr. Mackenzie
Bell's " Spring Immortality," and expressed
delight in the pictures, of which we have
here in some senses a continuation. Mr. Bell
has a sincere love of nature, portrays it with
fidelity, and interprets its deeper meanings
with sympathy and discrimination. His
poems are largely of the reflective order, not
exactly mystical, but tinged throughout with
a religious spirit. His workmanship is care-
ful and artistic, free from exaggeration and
strain. One of the best pieces in the book is
"The Battle's Pause," describing visions of
home scenes which come to soldiers of
different nationalties during a lull at Water-
loo. "A Plea for Faith " is noteworthy, and
forms a strong apologetic.

The Referee says-.

There is much in Mr. Bell's new volume
that it is a pleasure to remember . . .
The quatrain to Christina Rossetti is a gem.

Mr. A. H Hyatt in The JCnfleld
Observer and The Middlesex (Hizette

says I

Mackenzie Bell's new book, •* Pictures of
Travel," comes as a welcome volume to
those who have hitherto admired his
•• Spring's Immortality." and the recent
biographical work, "Christina Rossetti."
The poems contained in the volume before
us, if few in number, are full of happy
thoughts, and being expressed in simple
language, make them all the more acceptable.
Many of the studies show his sympathy with
Nature, and in his sunset pictures one seems
to feel the peace that is eventide's. . . We
^--•tly admire •• After Sunset off Pauillac,"

! ** Evening in the Forest of Meudon.

the Mouth of the Garonne." and a * >.

in Early Summer." "A Sammer £••

in the Woods " stands out pre-eminen-

beauty of word-penning. •• The !•-
. Pause," the longest poem, is a s^^

soldier visions pathetically and grapr
, told. In '*To a Worker among the }
I our poet has many fine lines. Other t
I which please us equally as well are *

for Faith," " Wild Roses and Snow.

Boy just Dead," and ''Wind Fancies.

have read some harsh and, we think, r

criticism on these poems, of which i»«
I no heed, but are thankful for this c* 1

refreshing gallery of travel-pictures.

Illustrated Ohurch News ^•^

"Pictures of Travel" form but a >:
portion of this volume, which inclu^c> ~
cellaneous and religious poems, in aii> -
to the longer poems of " The Battle's T^u>
"To a Worker among the Poor," ar.l
Plea for Faith." Mr. Mackenzie U
poems always give us great pleasure T
bear the marks and inspiration of a :'
poet, and are expressed in delightful 3:1
and language Manv of the poems ~
already appeared in the columns of mi dt.i
and weekly periodicals. They will now ;
less be welcomed in their present iorm ^
will prove worthy of the author's repute;
gained in " Spring's Immortality, and a^
Poems." Tne volume contains sl\ - 1
illustrations, and is printed and publi^^^^-
an attractive style.

The Home News says :

This is the work of a genuine crafi^cii
Though not a great poet, Mr. Macke-i
Bell has thought to some purpose, arr
well aware that noble thoughts dcma.-!;
corresponding dignity of expression. To a
end he has been at pains to find the Bto
word and to set it in its place, and »: ;
approach, as near as may be, that ideal ^t 1
in which every word helps expression, ^^
cannot be removed or replaced w.t!; j
injury to clearness and precision. Nor 'I
he disdain to let his ear grow increa^^.
sensitive to the subtle melody and $w«tnn
of such rhythm

As, could they hear, the damned *^'^^

make no noise
But listen.

The following lines, in memory of Cbnstr
Rossetti, need no commendation. . • ^
illustrations add to the attractiveness £<,^
book which, in one or two places, narfo*']
misses the pitch of permanent poesy

Faxm, Field, and Fireside, says -.
1 these days when literature of the erotic
Dol is disseminated so widely, Mr. Bell's
ms come as a healthy andidote, and like
I, refreshing rain in an over-heated literary
This book, with its calm sweetness
I chastity, is like a white flower, each
m a perfectly formed petal

Madaaie says :

x>vers of verse will find much to please
J possibly something to inspire them in
s collection of poems. The sentiments
ich they contain are obviously sincere.
)eciaUy in the religious pieces at the end
the book, and Mr. Bell has a graphic
ich in writing of scenery which is too
rely discoverable in descriptive verse.

The Scotsman says :

The pieces mentioned in the title of Mr.
ackenzie Bell's new book, " Pictures of
ravel, and other Poems." form a sequel to
prior set of descriptive pieces recalling in
usical verse the suggestions of several
:encs on the Continent. Those in the
resent volume are drawn from places in
le south of France, and from the Lake
I Geneva. The remaining poems, if a brief
iction of miscellaneous pieces be excepted,
re best described as moral and religious
msings One of them pictures the
Noughts of various soldiers in an imaginary
ause in the action at the battle of Waterloo.
iHother addresses words of encouragement
a worker among the poor. A third urges
plea for the simplification of religious
Mth. A few arc clirectly religious. The
niscellaneous pieces philosophise, now
eelingly, new fancifully, but always with an
tnpressive dignity of movement. This
ober elevation of style forms the chief
lislinction of the book as a whole. The
Kiiformly careful workmanship of the
yotms, their earnestness, and the hopeful
:ourage of their tone, cannot but recommend
He book to many readers.

The Dundee Advertiser says -.

Mackenzie Bell has called his new volume

c>f poems " Pictures of Travel," but room is

given for some philosophic and religious

pieces of worth. These reveal a sensitive

nature, with a brave desire to face the hard

problems of existence, ever inclining to an

optimistic view of things. Mr. Bell's muse

>^ a temperate one. His religious poetry

nas no vibrant exultation in it, rather is it

<iecp and serene. His poems of Nature,

a«[ain, are warm without being passionate.

He has got nearer to Nature's heart than

most of oar minor poets. He has felt the

^^t of sunset, the brightening moon, and

the rhapsodies of nightingales. His poem-
pictures of travel are full of Wordsworthian
feeling as opposed to the neurotic quality
which mars so much current poetry. A
gentle melancholy is felt in them, as in
Philip Bourke Marston's work. The colour-
ing of them, always lovely, displays a close
personal intimacy with outdoor effects. He
has felt '* the sense of awe, the enthralling
peace of Nature's woodland silence,'* and
the pure delight of wandering amongst the
roses in English lanes. In a remarkable
poem, entitled "The Battle's Pause/* he
breaks away from Nature, and takes up the
subject of an imaginary episode at Waterloo.
Here he has allowed his fancy free play in
describing the various scenes coming before
the eyes of the soldiers in a pause of the
fighting. Mr. Bell knows simply nothing
about artifice. He seems literally to write
down his poems just as they are dictated by
his fancy, so that the fashioning of each
reveals still more of the poet's mood.
Equally strong is the sense of personality in
all Mr. Bell's work. The reader gets at once
in touch with him, and this adds greatly to
the interest of the book. A portrait of the
author is given, and there are several pen
studies in illustration of the text.

The Aberdeen Free Press says :

The author of the recent biographical and
critical study of Christina Rossetti continues
the series of travel-pictures contained in his
volume entitled '* Spring's Immortality and
other Poems," of which the third edition
was published in 1896, those in the present
volume having reference to France, the
Pyrenees, and the Lake of Geneva. Other
and longer poems are occupied with moral
and religious themes, and there is also a
section of " miscellaneous " pieces, chiefly
philosophical in cast. As a whole, the verses
move with dignity and distinction, never
soaring to ethereal heights of poesy, but
always careful as to form and natural in
sentiment, with a genuine poetic undertone.
" The Battle's Pause/' is the most notable
as well as the longest piece in the volume.
The volume is dedicated to Archdeacon
Sinclair " in memory of many happy hours
spent in the Chapter-House, St. Paul's
Cathedral," and is illustrated by a portrait
of the author and several pen and ink
sketches.

The Aberdeen Journal says :

Mr. Mackenzie Bell attracted the attention
of readers of poetry by his volume. '* Spring's
Immortality and other Poems." It has just
been followed by " Pictures of Travel."
The poems reveal a sympathetic insight into
nature, a cultured mind, and a spirit of

reverence. Nor is the human note lacking.
There is something Wordsworthian in this : —

Nature is great, and man is impotent,

Yet still how much his art hath made
increase

To this rare store of beauty. Each
small patch

Perceived upon the mountain side, re*
claimed

From barren wilderness, what power it
hath

To cheer the eye. To me it often seems

As though no prospect reached per-
fection till

It showed some kindly trace of human
toil.
Mr. Bell's religious poems will be read
with appreciation by many perplexed minds
They speak with an almost pontifical assur-
ance ofevil finding its outcome in good, and
they are welcome for their whole-hearted
sanity. There is nothing in them of the de-
cadence that has marked so much recent
verse. All through the book are traces of
the depth of living sympathy that made Mr.
Bell's earlier work poetry. But " Pictures
of Travel and other Poems " does not con-
tain his great poem. For that we are still
looking hopefully, and his new volume is a
fresh assurance that it will come. Mr Bell
has seen much, which he tells so that men
will like to read of it. But, though at times
he comes very near it, he has not yet seen —
or, at least, he has not been able to write
about — "the light that never was on sea or
land." He has, indeed, the consciousness
that this quest is for him ; and that he can,
as he does, make his readers share that
consciousness is itself an earnest of realisa-
tion. We have not heard the last of Mr.
Mackenzie Bell.

la

The Olasffow Herald says :
In this volume. Mr. Mackenzie Bell gives
us. among other things, a second series of
pictures drawn from his experience as an
occasional traveller in France. It can be said
for them that while they exhibit no particu-
lar originality or force, they are commendable
for their simplicity of form and purity of
tone and style. The longest poem in the
book is "The Battle's Pause." which is an
imaginary episode at Waterloo. The device
is poetical, and is skilfully elaborated. The
poet selects certain soldiers, and makes them
in the brief suspension of the action dream
of home and the various incidents of their
past life, just as persons drowning are sup-
posed to do. It is a gentle and fanciful piece
of verse. "A Plea for Faith " is thoughtful.
Mr. Bell has indeed a religious bias, and a
few pages are devoted to religious themes,
which he treats in a quiet, thoughtful tone.
A portrait of Mr. Bell is prefixed to the
volume.

The OlirtocUui Ldader *»]n

We have evidently a rising poet
Mackenzie Bell, who, having worked s;ej2
and well during some years, has n«^«i
vanced from being a respectable minor
I to becoming a favourite.

The North British Daily Mall >^. -.

Every reader of this charming Item <
verse can hardly help feeling that the aij :
is a genuine poet permeated with thai :
of nature and gift^ with ability to exp.-
which are so seldom found combined • r.
same individual. His descriptions of sec
which he has actually seen are chara.
ised by a living glow, an attnospher**
reality that compels appreciation. In
Battle's Pause." one of those strange cr.
tions of all noise, that is assumed to t.
happened at Waterloo. Mr. Bell has ach*--
a veritable triumph. He describes ^
rare delicacy of feding and brilliant iroa&.
tion the visions that flit through the mm>:
some of the combatants during such a pa
before the conflict recommences with
doubled fury, and recalls their wander
spirits to the grim contrast of reality. 1
religious poems are also distinguished h\ t
depth and the purity of their sentiment, x
Mdll. no doubt, assist considerably in uUccj
Mr. Bell's sphere of influence.

The Olasffow Bvenlng Verws t^} -

Mr. Mackenzie Bell's name has acqui'
a certain familiarity as the author o:
much - debated biographical study
Christina Rossetti. He has also fathetvi
volume of poetry entitled *' Spring's ln]a>^
tality and other Poems." The contentsi
the present volume consist of a second seri
of the •* Pictures of Travel " included in j
former volume, a long poem entitled ** 1^
Battle's Pause." and some miscellar
and religious poems. Mr. Bell is evid
a man of deep feeling, and his verse is sj
and free from tantalising obscuritf
phrasing.

The Beformoa Presbyterian WU]

says:

A second volume of poems from the
of Mr. Mackenzie Bell will be welcomet
all who have a taste for genuine
The pictures of travel are taken
Meudon, the Garonne, the Lake of G
and other places on the Continent
book includes " The Battle's Pause "
•• Plea for Faith," with several shorter pi(
under " Religious and Miscellaneous."
Bell's style is sometimes bold and vig<
as a blast in the early Spring, and oft<
sweet and gentle as a mUd Autumnal da^

The Leeds Mercury suys : ■

3re will be expected from ^Mr. Mackenzie
since he took his place in the literary
i as the biographer of Christina Rossetti ;
in this case expectation is realised. His
volume of poems, shows more mature
ght. and a more finished style than was
d in his earlier works. . . Altogether
new volume of Mr. Mackenzie Bell's is
%velcome; and we must add that its
dozen illustrations are delightfully
:hy of it.

The Bristol Mercury says:

here is a simple charm about Mr. Bell's
e which is sure to appeal to the lover of
: r y . His descriptions of nature are sweet

pretty—a fact which is clearly shown,
example, in his poem " On the Lake of
leva. ' ' Considerable power of imagination
svinced in the interesting poem "The
tie's Pause " (an imaginary episode at
terloo). In this poem the author relates

dreams of different soldiers. The writer
I a meditative turn of mind.

Blrminffhsm Daily Gazette says;

rlr. Mackenzie Bell has a deserved reputa-
1 for dainty lyrical poems, and his new
ume will please. The most ambitious
ce is " The Battle's Pause." Mr. Bell's
ume is illustrated, and the author's
rtrait serves as a frontispiece.

The Newcastle Daily Leader says -.

Vlackenzie Bell's "Picture of Travel"

itinue a series which is to found in one of

former volumes. They are perhaps

itches rather than pictures— small pieces

impressionism at once descriptive of a

:ne and expressive of a mood. The

iches are firm, simple, decided. Mr. Bell

Bs not aim at producing grand effects.

^ere is nothing in his work which is either

icdiose or vague. His talent is of a

(olly unpretending kind ; but it is the

ent of one who has the true artistic

tinct. His note is quiet, reverent, sincere.

fibly the best •• Pictures of Travel " in
volume are some that do not appear
ler that title. "The Battle's Pause,"
;m which is very original and touching
lea. is a series of contrasted scenes por-
^ ed with great vividness and in easy and
ilirable verse. As an example, here is
scene which presents itself to the inner
of a soldier on the' field of Waterloo.

The Manchester Courier says :

these poems Mr. Bell shows a happy
of words and a correct feeling for
thm.

The Manchester Evening Chronicle says :

Mr. Mackenzie Dell has a poet's eye and
a poet's ear. His verses are always smooth,
his thoughts ruminant and reflective, and his
themes are invariably in harmony with his
thoughts and his style.

The Arbroath Herald says :

Mr. Mackenzie Bell is already widely
known as a writer of excellent verse, and
this volume is likely to extend the public
favour which he enjoys. There is nothing
surprising, nothing revolutionary in Mr.
Bell's work. He comes with a clear eye and
a calm mind to the study of the subUmity
and tenderness of nature, and the sorrows
and sanctities of human life ; and he turns
his impressions into melodious verse, which
has in it the charm of artistic phrase and
happy couplet, and the sweetness of a
chastened spirit to whom time and thought
have made things clear.

The Dunoon Herald says:

Mr. Bell is at his best in his descriptive
passages. In these, indeed, we should say
he is more an artist than a poet. *'The
Battle's Pause " affords ample evidence of
this in its graphic and pathetic descriptions
of visions which appear to each soldier af« he
lies relieved for a moment in sudden " silence
on the battle-field." The "Pictures of
Travel," from which the volume take its
title, present to the mind vivid realities of
what Mr. Bell himself has seen. These
little poems seem to have the merit of being
written on the spot, so sweetly do they
breathe out the air of the scenes they de-
scribe. That Mr. Bell has the artist's eye
rather than the poet's, the eye which looks
for picturesqueness rather than the soul of
things, we assum& from these lines —

" To me it often seems
As though no prospect reached perfection

till
It showed some kindly trace of human

toil."

The Torquay Observer, says i

There is a sweet tone in the verse of
Mr. Mackenzie Bell, published under the
engaging title of '• Pictures of Travel,*'

The Ross-shlre Journal, says -.

Ihis book of Mr. Mackenzie Bell's is well
fitted for company in a leisure hour. It is
edifying and peaceful in its effects, and it is
written by a hand that never strikes a
discordant note.

8

The Fylde Observer tayt :

With far-seeing eye and graceful pen he
has given to all readers of verse some very
pretty pictures of sights in foreign lands.

The Bnileld Chroniole says i

Some time ago when we gave some attention
to his work, we regarded Mr. Mackenzie Bell
as one of the more promising of the
minor poets of his day. At the present
time we consider Mr. Bell to be one
of the best writers of his day in his own
department. His new volume " Pictures of
Travel and other Poems," which he dedicates
to Archdeacon Sinclair, will be found to
warrant our high opinion. It is a charming
volume, beautifully printed, and illust'^ated
in a truly artistic manner.

The Liverpool Mercury tays .•

" Pictures of Travel " is a book of poems,
of which the first part, which supplies the
title, is a continuation of a scheme of
verses begun in his former volume. In the
word " Pictures ' these nature studies are
very fitly described. " Evening in the
Forest ot Meudon" is a very favourable
example of this class as an effective piece
of word painting.

Mr. Belrs narrative powers, of which he
gave earnest in a swinging ballad in his
former book, have greatly ripened. " The
Battle's Pause" is a long poem descriptive
of an imaginary episode at Waterloo. Here
Mr. Bell uses language with an instinctive
feeling for rhythmic beauty and picturesque
force. It is upon this poem that the advance
he has made in his art must be estimated ;
it is here that he strikes a deeper note than
he has yet reached.

The Perthshire Constitutional says:

We have been somewhat long in noticing
this beautiful volume, but with all the greater
pleasure do we now bring it before the atten-
tion of our readers. The name of Mackenzie
Bell needs no introduction to those who know
what is good in contemporary poetry, and in
the present volume his name does not belie
itself. Here we find genuine poetic feeling,
luminous, and strengthening thought, keen
discernment of beauty, and sympathetic in-
terpretation of Nature's moods. The manner
is in appropriate keeping with the subject-
matter — vigorous expression here, and dainty
workmanship there. ''The Pictures of
Travel," which give their title to the volume,
form a second series to those included in that
charming collection, " Spring's Immortality
and other Poems." But, perhaps, the
strongest piece in the present volume is that

entitled ** The Battle's Ps&ase '*~a p^.
which " runs each hapless soldier's ir>
of home and loved ones. The volume. ■
is chastely bound and adorned with sii
trations and a portrait of the author I,
of frontispiece, is one that cannot ii
bring sincere pleasure to all lovers of pr

The Yousff Man utyt:

•• Pictures of Travel and other P:<r
contains some of Mr. Bell's most 5L'-.
work.

I The Christian says :

All who have read Mr. Mackenzie 1>
' delightful book of verse, " Spring's Ic=
tality," will give a ready welcome t^.
' latest venture in the fields of poesy. *• P:.:
of Travel and other Pocmsw" Here %t '.
the same lofty reverence of conception -
removed from all that is base -the 2.
I clearness of vision and musical simplicr
phrase. Mr. Bell is eminently a poet n -
people. The short poems of travel cc-
many gems of descriptive beauty : an
most ambitious efifort in the book.
Battle's Pause," is at once novel in pUr.
fine in execution.

The Churchmem w^.-

Mr. Mackenzie Bell is already favr-jr.
known in the world of letters as the -^ :
of a charming book of verse, "Spn:
Immortality, and other Poems": as
writer of two valuable critical biograpr ]
"Charles Whitehead" and -Chri:!
Rossetti '* ; and as a thoughtful and I
criminating essayist. He has added tc :i
reputation by the delicate and graceful 1)1
and the strong, clear, blank verse oi i
present volume. His writing shows a d?^
and appreciative sympathy with Natur? I
her varying moods, and an ear swift to cz: \
the lessons which, as the visible vesture
the Eternal Mind, she suggests. " Pauill^
"Meudon." "Roses and Snow," * Tj
Garonne," *-St. Sauveur," " Geneva.*' i
show a mind in tune with Turner ^
Wordsworth. The longest poem, " T|
Battle's Pause." is a series of vigorous iisaj
native scenes in the rhythm of Scott T\
strong human sympathies of the jxiei ^
shown in *' The Worker amongst the Pvr :
»'The Philosophy of Ftselings," The Ini'l
sophy of Failure.' The vindication i.t
religious belief, which is apart from sci^jI
and demonstration is given, in " A Plea i
Faith," "Christina Rossetti," "Her U
just Dead." and "Miracles." The bc>A
charmingly printed and illustrated.

I

■

}

f

I

3 HO B 005 Ml^aL 'X c ' 'i«,j

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